KUCHING: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, this evening, said that the seven parliamentary seats belonged to SUPP.
The seven seats he referred to were Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Serian, Sarikei, Sibu, Lanang and Miri.
Met by journalists after chairing the SUPP central working committee (CWC) meeting, Dr Sim said what the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg announced earlier indicated that the seven seats belonged to the party.
Of late, Abang Johari, who is state Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said that the state BN would not go for direct candidacy in the next general election.
“That is what CM said, that no BN direct candidate. That means the seven seats belong to SUPP. If they don’t belong to SUPP, then belong to who?
“I got very worried. I don’t want to be like Tan Sri William Mawan who suddenly became PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu member),” he said at the SUPP headquarters here.
Dr Sim, who is Local Government and Housing Minister, then asked journalists if they had learnt something that he was not aware of.
“Do you know something that I don’t know? That our seats belong to PBB, something I don’t know?
“CM already said no BN direct (candidate). In fact, when BN Supreme Council met on Jan 3 in KL (Kuala Lumpur), the decision at that point said that seats belong to the respective component parties,” he said.
When asked about the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between SUPP and United People’s Party (UPP), Dr Sim’s first reaction was: “What MoU?”
Then a journalist reminded him of “the MoU with UPP”, he said: “Oh, that one. We discuss tomorrow lah.”
State BN Supreme Council will convene at 2.30pm tomorrow (March 23) at the PBB headquarters.
Today, a national daily speculated in a news report that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would announce the list of BN candidates for the upcoming 14th general election on April 2.
When pressed to give a hint on the MoU, Dr Sim said: “Cannot.”
Asked if the MoU issue was deliberated at the CWC meeting, he said: “No need to discuss. What is to discuss?”
Earlier, Dr Sim said “we have a very good meeting, all the CWC and the respective branches of the seven seats”.
He added that those present at the meeting “got the message” that SUPP had to work hard to win the election.
“There is nothing easy and involves a lot of work on the ground and it’s impactful job. We also plan to launch war trucks and review the ongoing training that has been going on Sibu, Miri and Sarikei.
“Also we discussed on the manifesto because the manifesto involves some SUPP manifesto and some BN Sarawak manifesto,” he said.
He said the party had told “people internally that if you don’t work hard, you don’t expect the candidacy is yours”.
“If you don’t work hard, no one is going to beg you to stand for election,” he added.
Contacted this evening, UPP secretary general George Lo said both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had “stressed that the most important criteria in the choice of candidate is the winnability of the candidate.”
“I believe that they will be able to pick the most winnable candidate whether the candidate is from UPP or SUPP.
“We will leave it to the wisdom of the PM and CM in their respective role as heads of BN at national and state level to make the decision,” added Lo.