Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh
SIBU: Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh is confident of retaining Bawang Assan if he were renominated by the BN for the 11th state election, which must be called by June next year.
He said this was not a baseless boast as he had been working hard in his area and solving problems raised by his constituents.
“Because of that, I believe I still command good support in the area, especially among the Ibans, who have been loyal supporters. There are also signs that Chinese support is swinging back, and I am confident my support among the Chinese community is increasing,” Wong told the BAT 5 team yesterday.
There are 99 longhouses in Bawang Assan and Iban voters make up about 35 per cent of the total voters.
The rest are Chinese voters.
Additionally, there are state seats with Chinese majority under the parliamentary constituencies of Sibu and Lanang.
Wong said due to the lack of Chinese representation within the government, he had been looked upon as the leader for the area.
“I believe the whole of Sibu, including state constituencies such as Bukit Assek, Pahlawan and Dudong, is looking up to me for my leadership.”
Acknowledging the fact that Sibu town is suffering from traffic congestion, Wong, who is also the Minister of Local Government and Community Development, said he had proposed that under the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP), two major trunk roads be constructed to ease traffic flow.
The two proposed new roads are expected to cost some RM180 million.
“These two proposed roads are both on the outer rings of Sibu.
The purpose of the two roads is to link different parts of Sibu on the outskirts so that cars can travel from one part of Sibu to another without having to go through Sibu town.”
He said apart from these two new roads, he also proposed some big projects in the 11MP, which he could not disclose at the moment.
“My proposed 11MP for Sibu has yet to be approved by the government. We need the approval of the government to announce the master plan,” said Wong, who assured that Sibu would not be overtaken by other towns or settlements within the Central Region.
Instead, Sibu will benefit from the general development of towns and settlement along the Rajang Basin.
“Sibu will be well connected to all the towns and settlements along the Rajang Basin. It will be the banking and educational hub for the Rajang Basin after Kapit and other towns such as Song are linked to Sibu by road.”