Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing
PAKAN: Julau MP Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum remains the choice of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) to defend the parliamentary seat in the 14th general election (GE14).
Still, Deputy Chief Minister and PRS president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing said this would also depend on the constituents of Pakan and Meluan.
He said in politics, the choice of election candidate would still be determined by the people in that particular area.
“For Julau, the people must ensure that they would vote for Salang in GE14 if they still want him to continue representing them in Parliament.
“It wouldn’t work – even if I chose him (Salang) to be re-nominated, but the people in Meluan and Pakan rejected him. Furthermore, I’m not a voter in Julau.
“As the party leader, I will go with the choice of the people,” he said in his opening remarks at a ‘Meet-the-People’ session in Rumah Julius Edward in Dendang, Wak here on Thursday.
Earlier, a group of local community leaders and supporters had voiced out their support for Salang to be fielded again in the parliamentary elections.
Masing, who is also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, also advised the Julau constituents not to lie to themselves, to him and to Salang.
“The power to make him (Salang) win the election is in your hands, not in mine,” he said.
Meanwhile, Salang who spoke earlier advised the people in Dendang to allocate certain amount of land plots for them to do their own farming activities should they wish to join any land development schemes.
Salang, who is also 1Malaysia Sarawak Advisory Council chairman, has been Julau MP for four terms.
He won in GE13 with a 5,955-vote majority in a three-cornered fight against Wong Judat from Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) and Andy Wong Hong Yu of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
Salang polled 9,891 votes against Wong Judat’s 3,936 and Andy’s 2,852 votes.
The Pakan and Meluan state constituencies are under Julau.
The session at Rumah Julius was also attended by Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie, Samalaju assemblyman Majang Renggi, Balai Ringin assemblyman Snowdan Lawan and political secretary to chief minister Angeline Umis.