By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Nov 3: Repok assemblyman Dato Sri Huang Tiong Sii and Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang from Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) have been chosen to bear the party’s torch in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Huang will contest in the parliamentary seat of Sarikei which consists of Repok and Meradong, while Lo will vie for Stampin seat which is made up of Batu Kitang, Batu Kawah and Kota Sentosa.
This goes against the party’s previous principle of “no assemblyman for parliament”.
Both are being fielded not only due to their popularity on the ground but mainly because Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) wants to win as many seats as possible, as one of its top leaders Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas had stated very clearly — GPS is here to make a clean sweep of all 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak.
Huang made his debut in Sarikei in the 2018 General Election, garnering 13,757 votes against Democratic Action Party (DAP) Wong Ling Biu’s 16,327 votes and Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s (PBK) Wong Chin King’s 392 votes.
This is the second time he is standing for SUPP in Sarikei but instead of facing Ling Biu, he is facing off with the latter’s son Roderick Wong.
Lo, on the other hand, is taking his virgin journey down the road for Parliament. Apart from him, there are four more new faces including Wong Ching Yong for Lanang, Clarence Ting for Sibu, Jeffrey Phang for Miri and Eric Tay for Bandar Kuching.
It is thus understandable why SUPP is fielding five new faces. In the 2018 General Election, SUPP suffered the worst defeat ever, losing six out of the seven seats traditionally allocated to them.
The lost seats were all Chinese-majority seats, including Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sibu, Lanang, Miri and Sarikei while the party only retained one seat: Serian, which is predominantly a Bidayuh-majority seat.
Wong who is an accountant will be facing a tough battle in Lanang in the face of two strong ladies – Alice Lau from DAP and Priscilla Lau from Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) who will stand under Parti Sarawak Bersatu’s (PSB) ticket.
For Ting, who is Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman, it will also be an uphill task to wrest back Sibu in view that he will be contesting against PSB president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, who is a veteran politician and was once a full minister from the ruling coalition.
Phang, who is a political secretary to the Premier, has been making appearances with Miri SUPP top leader Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin during various occasions while Tay, a young businessman, has been seen walking about in town to meet his voters. — DayakDaily
