SUPP refuses to share seats

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Dr Sim says his party adamant on contesting all seven seats allocated to the party

Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian

KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) will contest in Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Serian, Sarikei, Sibu, Lanang and Miri — the seven parliamentary seats that are allocated to the party under the Barisan Nasional (BN) understanding in the state.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, who is also SUPP president, stated this to journalists after chairing the party’s central working committee (CWC) meeting here last night.

To back his party’s stand, Dr Sim referred to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s recent statement that BN Sarawak would not field direct candidates in the coming general election like what it did in the 2016 state election.

“That is what CM (the Chief Minister) said, that no BN direct candidate. That means the seven seats belong to SUPP. If they don’t belong to SUPP, then belong to whom?

“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 then asked journalists if they knew 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, 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’, to which he said: “Oh, that one. We discuss tomorrow ‘lah’.”

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 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 it involves a lot of work on the ground and its impactful job. We also plan to launch war trucks and review the training that has been going on in Sibu, Miri and Sarikei.

“Also we discussed on the manifesto because the manifesto involves some SUPP manifesto and some BN Sarawak manifesto,” he said.

Contacted last night, UPP Secretary General George Lo said both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister 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.

The State BN Supreme Council will convene at 2.30pm today at the PBB headquarters.

Yesterday, a national daily speculated that the Prime Minister would announce the list of BN candidates on April 2.