‘Underdog’ Dr Sim confident of narrowing gap against DAP’s Chong
KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian feels that he is the underdog in the battle for the Stampin parliamentary seat, but is confident of ‘narrowing the gap’ come polling day on May 9.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate is involved in a straight fight with Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen in what is expected to be a close battle between two party chiefs.
“If everybody works hard and is not misled (by the opposition) and looks at (every battle) rationally, I believe that even if I’m the underdog, we can narrow the gap over the (next) 11 days,” he said after being announced as the candidate for Stampin.
Dr Sim, who is Local Government and Housing Minister, appealed to Stampin voters to look at the work that BN-SUPP had put in for Batu Kawah and Batu Kitang state constituencies over the last two years.
“Give me a chance to fight for not just for Stampin alone, but for Sarawak in general,” he said, adding that he had been working hard regardless of whether it was election time or not.
This is Dr Sim’s first time contesting in a parliamentary election, having twice contested in the state polls. He first stood in the 2011 state election in Pending but was defeated by DAP’s Violet Yong, who polled 14,375 votes for a 7,595-majority.
In 2016, Dr Sim contested in Batu Kawah and beat DAP incumbent Christina Chiew in a three-cornered fight that also involved Independent candidate Liu Thian Leong.
He polled 6,414 votes against Chiew’s 4,329 and Liu’s 1,109, to win by a majority of 2,085.
The three state seats under Stampin are Kota Sentosa, Batu Kawah and Batu Kitang.
Chong is a three-term assemblyman for Kota Sentosa, while BN-SUPP’s Lo Khere Chiang is the Batu Kitang assemblyman.
Stampin has a total of 66,240 registered voters.
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