KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has called out Bandar Kuching incumbent Chong Chieng Jen for ‘chickening out’ of defending his seat this 14th general election (GE14).
He said Chong fled to Stampin parliamentary constituency because SUPP was fielding its Women chief Kho Teck Wan as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the parliamentary constituency.
“Somebody is afraid of women and he has fled to Stampin. ‘Eksen kuat’ (such as show-off) when he was Bandar Kuching MP but looks like he is afraid of women,” he quipped to roars of laughter at the launch of the Sarawak River Integrated River Basin Development (PLSB) Project at Dataran MJC in Batu Kawa here yesterday.
Chong, who is Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak chairman and DAP Sarawak chairman, announced on Monday that he will be contesting in Stampin this GE14, paving way for his special assistant Dr Kelvin Yii to contest in Bandar Kuching.
Abang Johari, who is also state BN chairman, commended SUPP for fielding a woman candidate in the opposition stronghold of Bandar Kuching.
“(SUPP president) Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian chose a lady to fight for BN this general election. Kho is a very brave lady who is expecting to face the leader of PH Sarawak.
“But somehow he ran off to Stampin, where he will now be facing off with Dr Sim. Don’t worry, Dr Sim. We will fight for you,” he said.
He pointed out that unlike DAP, SUPP is a local BN component party.
“Opposition parties like DAP and PKR always end up fighting amongst themselves. We should support our own local component parties because regardless of which party we are from in BN, we always cooperate and work with one another.”
Dr Sim was earlier announced as BN’s candidate for Stampin during the announcement of BN Sarawak candidates by Abang Johari at PBB headquarters.
With the contenders for Stampin now confirmed, the parliamentary constituency will be one of the hot seats to watch out for this May 9.
In the 13th general election, veteran politician Datuk Yong Khoon Seng, who held Stampin for three terms, was upset by DAP greenhorn Julian Tan who beat him with a majority of 18,670 votes.