The Hornbill Hannibal
"Young, educated but equally corrupted candidate for Padungan"
Young, educated candidate for Padungan: says Taib
Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said the state coalition had finalised the ‘winnable’ candidate to win back the seat which was once a stronghold of the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).
However, Sarawak BN will only reveal the candidate’s identity after Parti Keadlian Rakyat (PKR), the party which won the seat in the May 2006 state election, has announced its candidate, he said.
Taib, who is also state BN chairman, was speaking to reporters after opening the Kuching South division’s Sejiwa Senada programme here today.
In the 2006 state election, the predominantly Chinese urban seat was won by Dominique Ng (PKR), with a 1,033-majority vote, after garnering 8,002 votes.
SUPP’s incumbent Lily Yong only bagged 6,585 votes.
Speculation is rife that Kuching SUPP branch member Sim Kiang Chiok might be announced as Padungan’s BN candidate on April 5, the eve of nomination day.
He is also the secretary-general of the Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda).
Meanwhile, a local newspaper today reported that Kuching folks have expressed support for Sim as BN candidate for Padungan, one of eight seats in Sarawak which SUPP lost in the last state election. SUPP had contested in 19 seats.
On Thursday, Taib said the list of BN candidates for the state polls would be submitted to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak early next month.
So far, Najib has named only one candidate, that is head of the cardiology unit at Sarawak General Hospital, Prof Dr Sim Kui Khian, who is tasked with wresting back the Pending seat, during his visit to Kenyalang Park here last Saturday. — Bernama
Negotiations break down, so DAP goes it alone
KUCHING: Seat negotiations between DAP and PKR broke down, leaving each party to go its own way in the 10th state election.
The failed negotiations could be a mortal blow for the Opposition after SNAP went ahead and announced that it would contest in 40 seats, with or without PKR's approval.
State DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen told reporters that chairman Wong Ho Leng and election bureau chief Tan Kok Wai had met PKR deputy president Azmin Ali in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to sort the seats out but they could not come to an agreement.
He said that it was the final round of negotiations and he had been instructed to announce that “negotiations have broken down.”
“DAP will therefore go ahead with its plan to contest 18 out of the 71 seats and we will name our candidates in a few days,” he added.
He said DAP was willing to concede two seats Padungan and Senadin but Azmin demanded three more Batu Kawah, Dudong and Balai Ringin.
“That would leave us with only 13 seats, just one more than the number we contested in 2006.”
Chong, who is the Kota Sentosa incumbent, said PKR's demand was unreasonable and the party failed to reciprocate DAP's sincerity in wanting straight fights in all seats.
He said DAP's demand for 18 seats was reasonable as the party felt that it had a good chance of winning them.
Chong said that in the 2008 parliamentary election, DAP received 34% of the votes in Batu Kawah, which was one of the three seats under Stampin, while PKR had only 4%.
“The statistics are clear,” he said.
He said the only hope to keep Pakatan intact was for PKR leaders to come to their senses before nomination day on April 6.
Chong said although DAP would be fighting Barisan on its own, it would not contest more than 18 seats so as not to hurt PKR's chances of winning in other seats. - The Star
PM to consider more than one candidate per seat in Sarawak polls
KLUANG, March 26 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak will assess more than one candidate for each of the 71 seats in the Sarawak election.
The prime minister and Barisan Nasional chairman said the main consideration was who had the best chance of winning the seat in the election on April 16.
“I will have a meeting with the Sarawak chief minister soon.
“We will choose the candidates with the best potential to win,” he told reporters after opening the social rehabilitation centre at the Mahkota camp here. Also present were Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Home
Asked if he had a personal record of the potential candidates, Najib said “That’s a secret.”
He said that it was normal for a list submitted for approval to have more than one candidate for consideration for every seat. — Bernama
‘Fighting for survival’, Susil is unfazed by opposition
KUCHING: Bidayuh-centric Bengoh and Kedup constituencies, are among four seats worth watching. The others are Tasik Biru, Opar, Tarat and Tebedu.
For the moment Tarat and Tebedu are considered Barisan Nasional safe seats.
In Bengoh, a nephew is poised to take on his uncle, incumbent Dr Jerip Susil in Bengoh.
Contesting under the PKR banner Willie Mongin is aiming to unseat his uncle who won the seat in 2006.
Susil, a two-term assemblyman, is said to be facing a groundswell that is working against him.
Susil is with Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP), a Barisan Nasional partner, which was all but slaughtered in the 2006 polls.
Whilst tipped to lose in the urban Chinese majority seats, SUPP is desperate to keep the Bidayuh seats.
But unlike in 2006, the return road for SUPP in these once BN loyal Bidayuh constituencies is not going to be easy.
In Bengoh, there are groups pushing for SUPP leaders to replace Susil and consider new faces.
Bengoh is likely to see a three-cornered fight between Susil, Mongin and Sarawak Nasional Party (Snap)’s Richard @ Peter Munai, who incidentally was Susil’s former personal assistant.
Both Mongin and Munai are Bidayuhs.
Susil however is unperturbed by the opposition candidates and the rumoured ground sentiments
According to him Bengoh has seen development during his time.
“I have 89 villages to service and I have to find ways and means to visit them at least once or twice a year.
“There is water, electricity and infrastructure. So far I find the people receptive to us, ” he said.
Unlike the opposition which is still splitting hair over who contests where, the BN machinery has already been working the ground.
“The BN component parties are intact (unlike opposition). We’ll be moving around the constituency informing them of the BN’s agenda. The people have seen development,” he said.
No solutions from opposition
According to him the opposition could at its best raise issues but ‘cannot provide solutions.’
“We know the opposition will raise various issues…but we have an advantage. We in BN can solve issue,” he said.
Bidayuhs comprise 65.72 of Bengoh’s 20,077 voters. Chinese make up 27.83% of the voters while Malay-Melanaus stand at 6.29%. Others form less that one percent.
BN cannot afford to lose its Bidayuh seats, not if the revelations of a recent ‘secret poll’ is anything to go by.
According to the ‘secret poll’ allegedly commissioned by Chief Minsiter Taib Mahmud’s own Information Department, there is a likelihood that BN would crash out in the polls, with Taib’s Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) losing at least 14 seats.
SUPP was also touted to lose 10-12 seats of its19 being contested.
Who’s the hero
In Kedup meanwhile the issue is ‘who will be the hero’ as seven candidates vie for the possibility of being the chosen one to contest in the upcoming polls.
The race to be the next Kedup assemblyman came about after incumbent Frederick Bayoi, who had held the fort since 1996, decided to call it day.
According to Infrastructure Development and Communication Minister Michael Manyin Jawong there are now many Bidayuh intellectuals interested to serve the community.
Actively lobbying for the Kedup seat are PBB Kedup deputy chairman Martin Ben, vice-chairman Alexander Ganyang, information chief Bernard Phillip and youth chief Mohd Jofaizal @ Joseph Entup.
Others in the fray are educationists Joseph Tiyam, Edward Luwak and radiologist Dr Eric Marcel Munjan.
“All of them are well qualified to be candidates and become YBs to represent the Bidayuh community but unfortunately we have only one seat,” said Manyin, wary of the resistence on the ground with regards to certain candidates.
Still, he is hoping that the others will offer their collective support to the ‘chosen one’ when the top BN leadership decides.
On the ground however, the local PBB faction is hellbent on rejecting ‘outsiders’.
“Kedup PBB has forwarded four names to the top leadership. They are locals. We reject outsiders,” said incumbent Bayoi alluding to the likes of Munjan..
With barely less than 10 days to go for nomination, potential candidates, incumbents included, are frantically trying to convince their bosses to field them.
Moggie denies secret pact with snap
KUCHING: The former president of the deregistered Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak, Leo Moggie, has strongly denied that he was behind an alleged secret pact between Snap and Barisan Nasional.
The former Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister said he had not been involved in any political activity since quitting politics in 2004.
“I am completely out of politics. I retired from politics many years ago and I remain retired from active politics,” the Tenaga Nasional Berhad chairman told reporters before attending the Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual general meeting here yesterday.
Moggie, who was an icon of Dayak politics, was asked to comment on the claim by the Sarawak Report blog that he reached out to Snap and arranged a secret deal between the party and BN.
Responding to another question, Moggie, the first Iban to obtain a Masters degree, said that he did like to see too many people, especially Dayak, involved in politics.
The MP for Kanowit from 1974 to 1999 said: “After my retirement, I find that there is actually more to life than politics.”
Moggie abruptly announced his resignation as PBDS president in 2003. His departure split the party into two camps and resulted in its de-registration.
- BERNAMA
‘No chance of unseating Taib’
KUCHING: Both DAP and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud seem oddly enough to share a common view that the Pakatan Rakyat coalition has no chance of forming the next Sarawak government.
According to Taib, the opposition was in disarray and squabbling over seats.
“Pakatan and PKR are already in disarray and fighting among themselves now for seats.
“What type of government can they promise the people?” he said while urging the people in Marudi to rally behind the Barisan Nasional (BN) during the 10th state election.
He said the opposition was only good for talk and had yet to prove itself.
“The opposition can only talk and suggest this and that. The thing is it has not proven itself, unlike the present government,” Taib said, adding that he cannot blindly meet all the people’s demands just to be popular.
He said the state was “very prudent” and “strict”.
“We are prudent and strict with our administration… without giving in too much to the people’s demands,” he said.
Meanwhile, state DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng conceded yesterday that wresting Petrajaya was almost impossible.
“As of now, the chance is zero,” he said.
According to DAP, talks with PKR had broken down after the latter refused to budge from its demand that DAP cut back on its seats.
Wong, who is Bukit Assek assemblyman, said the party had finalised its list of 18 candidates and would disclose the name on April 6.
“The candidates will know on April 4 when (party secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng hands over the letter in Sibu,” he said.
On whether all incumbents will be retained, Wong said some incumbents’ seats may be switched to make way for new blood.
He said the selection of candidates took into consideration the parliamentary elections.
He said as far as possible DAP did not want to be drawn into three-cornered fights.
“We hope to avoid three-cornered contests but we have no control over it,” he said.
Comments