MIRI, April 28: It is round two in Miri for Pakatan Harapan-Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PH-PKR) candidate Dr Michael Teo who is squaring off with Barisan Nasional-Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (BN-SUPP) candidate Datuk Sebastian Ting.
They first faced each other in the 2013 general election except that during the last parliamentary election, there was a third candidate Chong Koh Fatt from State Reform Party (Star).
In that showdown of 2013, Dr Teo, a general practitioner, had the upper hand where he won by polling 26,909 votes, against Ting’s 24,917 and Chong’s 306 who lost his deposit.
With a very slim majority of 1,992 and the accumulated unpopularity of Dr Teo, there were rumours that Dr Teo may be replaced by opposition coalition partner Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) Alan Ling, the giant killer who defeated former Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan in Piasau in the 2011 state election.
Ling, a lawyer, was defeated by Ting in the 2016 state election.
Prior to the finalisation of the candidate list, there was at one time, rumours that DAP and PKR might swap seats and that Miri may be represented by DAP instead of PKR where Dr Teo will be replaced by Ling.
Today, it showed that nothing has come of the rumours and Dr Teo will meet Ting, a lawyer, again in this 14th General Election which will see polling on May 9.
In contrast with Dr Teo, Ting’s reputation has been getting stronger by the day where he has been described as a kindhearted man who has touched many with his humility and sincerity.
Ting is one of the three in BN-SUPP who are already assemblymen but still vying for a parliamentary seat in this general election. — DayakDaily
