By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Sept 11: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng was evasive today when questioned about his potential candidacy in the 15th General Election (GE15) to reclaim the Bandar Kuching parliamentary seat from the Opposition.
Wee also laughed when reporters asked if he was keen to stand in the upcoming general election.
“We don’t even know when the election is. For the time being, I do my duty as mayor. We are not going to predict what will happen and all that.
“As far as I’m concerned, I am the mayor until the end of the year, so let me finish my duty as mayor,” he said when met by reporters at the Mayor Song Swee Guan Park (formerly Tabuan Jaya Recreational Park) following the launch of the MBKS Electrical and Electronic Waste Collection (BEE) campaign in Tabuan Jaya here.
Wee went on to say that any announcement on the branch’s candidacy should be left to the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Pending branch chairman Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, who is also the Deputy Premier of Sarawak and SUPP president.
He added that Dr Sim had recently mentioned that each branch in SUPP’s parliamentary constituencies would nominate their respective potential candidate.
“Dr Sim has mentioned that all parliamentary seats have either two or three State constituencies, that it’s only fair that every branch comes up with its own candidates.
“From there, they will select the winnable one. That’s how the criteria should be. Let the top people decide,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he noted that as mayor, he had made every effort to attend events to which he had been invited.
“The thing is, if I can attend, I’ll try to attend all the events that are sent to me. And it’s not just about attending events; we can also get close to the community and see and hear what’s going on on the ground, which is important.
“I am not a sit-down-in-office mayor, not that I like to walk around and all that, but that’s the only way we can see ourselves. Even this morning, I started my event at 6.30am to monitor and see how we can improve,” he remarked.
The MBKS mayor also expressed gratitude to those who brought various issues to the council for resolution.
“We appreciate those who raise issues and send them through proper channels for our action. However, we need everyone’s cooperation on a lot of things,” he mentioned.
As a result, he hoped that the community would continue to use the proper channels while promising that the council would act as soon as possible. — DayakDaily
