By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Oct 14: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Kuching Branch has nominated Eric Tay Tze Kok as the potential candidate for the P195 Bandar Kuching seat in the 15th General Election (GE15).
According to Tay, his name was submitted by the party branch to the SUPP Central Parliamentary Election Committee last month.
“However, of course, the final decision on which candidate is chosen, is in the hands of Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg,” he said when met at SUPP Kuching Branch’s gathering with the media held at a local restaurant here today.
Eric Tay is the SUPP Kuching Branch Youth chief and SUPP Central Youth vice chief.
If chosen, this will be his first time contesting in an election in the hopes of unseating Bandar Kuching incumbent Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen of Democratic Action Party (DAP).
The Bandar Kuching seat has been a DAP stronghold since it was won by Chong Chieng Jen in the 2004 general election.
Tay, earlier in his speech, said with the ongoing chaos in Peninsular Malaysia presently, Sarawak deserves to be the kingmaker, which will give her enough political mileage to claim autonomy rights from the Federal government, provided that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) wins a majority of 31 seats.
“In the last 18 years, the Kuching parliamentary constituency has lost to DAP for four consecutive terms.
“With 110,000Â voters and facing strong opponents, we must admit this battle is a difficult one.
“As long as the three branches of Kuching (Padungan, Pending and Batu Lintang) are united, we are not alone to win back the Kuching parliamentary seat and bring development towards the future of Kuching,” he stated.
Also present was SUPP Kuching Branch chairperson Datuk Lily Yong Lee Lee. — DayakDaily
