Dr Sim commenting on potential candidates from SUPP to stand in Pujut in the event of a by-election.
KUCHING: Potential candidates from outside Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties including the opposition parties intending to stand in Pujut in the event of a by-election can join Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) in order to hold an authentic ticket to contest.
SUPP president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, who is Local Government and Housing Minister, pointed out that SUPP would not compromise other than giving the seat to other BN component parties if SUPP was to give it up.
“The seat traditionally belongs to BN and it was allocated to UPP (United People’s Party) under the BN direct concept in the last election anyway,” he stressed to reporters when met at the DUN complex yesterday.
He was responding to a question whether SUPP has initiated talks with UPP over the by-election considering that the Pujut seat was allocated to UPP by BN in the last state election.
“The seat does not belong to UPP. If UPP wants to stand, the candidate will have to resign from the party and only then be given the ticket to contest as a BN direct candidate. So they can join us and would not have to resign to contest,” he said.
“Not only UPP, but DAP (Democratic Action Party) also can …since many of their members are so unhappy on the other side of the bench. So come over and join us…so they don’t have to get jealous when we are happy,” he said.
He stressed that under the BN principle, only candidates from BN component parties could contest under the BN ticket in any election.
On the potential candidates from SUPP, Dr Sim said the potential candidates initially picked in preparation for the next general election could be fielded to stand in the unexpected vacant Pujut seat.
“However, we are waiting for the Election Commission (EC) to announce its decision on the vacant seat,” he said.
“We are already preparing for the next general election and did not expect this (Pujut seat becoming vacant) to happen. Nevertheless, we will continue with our works on preparation and perhaps making some adjustments,” he added.
The Pujut state seat fell vacant after Dr Ting Tiong Choon was removed as the elected representative in a 70 to 10 votes from members of the house in favour of Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh’s ministerial motion.