By RINTOS MAIL
rintos@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: SUPP has nominated both its Kota Sentosa secretary Lo Khere Chiang
and Youth Central secretary-general Wilfred Yap for Stampin and its Youth chief
Tan Kai for Bandar Kuching.
This was confirmed by Lo Khere Chiang, who is Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman, yesterday.
He said their names were in the candidate list which was submitted by the party’s leadership to Barisan Nasional chairman and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently.
According to Lo, as one of the potential candidates, a copy of the candidate list had been made available to him.
“I received a copy of the list about two weeks ago. But I’m not the only one nominated for Stampin. There are two of us,” he said in response to a question from reporters after chairing MPP's full council meeting yesterday.
“The other candidate is Wilfred Yap,” he added.
According to Lo, every shortlisted candidate gets a copy of the list.
With Lo’s disclosure, the candidate for Stampin in the coming parliamentary election remain a toss-up between Lo and Yap.
The decision as to who will get to contest the seat now lies with Najib.
Despite the indecisiveness of the party leadership, Lo said whoever would be picked did not matter much to either him or Yap.
“Regardless of who gets to contest, both of us will work together to ensure SUPP and Barisan deliver the seat,” he added.
SUPP has been forced to look for a new candidate for the seat after incumbent Datuk Yong Khoon Seng, who is now serving his fifth term, decided not to seek re-election.
Yong, who is also Works Deputy Minister, is said to be SUPP’s most winnable candidate for the seat and several party leaders had tried to convince him to stay on but failed.
Yong is adamant with his decision to retire from active politics once Najib announces the dissolution of parliament to pave the way for 13th general election.
In the last parliamentary election, Yong retained the seat in a three-cornered fight with a 3,070-vote majority.
He secured 21,966 votes against DAP Voon Lee Shan’s 18,896 and PKR See Chee How’s 2,198. On Bandar Kuching, Lo said Tan Kai’s name was the only one nominated.
To another question, the MPP chairman declined to disclose the names of the candidates for the remaining five seats.
Recently, SUPP president Datuk Seri Peter Chin said he had submitted the party’s candidates list, which included the candidates for Sibu and Lanang, to Najib.
“We (SUPP Sibu chairman Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh and Chin) have come to an agreement on the candidates list and I have submitted it to the prime minister.
“A copy has also been given to the nominated candidates for all the seven constituencies (of SUPP),” he was reported as saying.
Traditionally SUPP is allocated seven of the 31 parliamentary seats at stake. Five other seats where SUPP will be fielding candidates are Serian, Sarikei, Sibu, Lanang and Miri.
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