KUCHING: SUPP has yet to decide on the candidates for about half of the 19 seats it would be contesting in the state election which is due in July next year.
Dr. Chan
Its president Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan yesterday disclosed that its candidate’s list was still about “50 to 60 per cent” undecided.
He, however, reiterated that 30 per cent of the total candidates would be new faces.
“We haven’t decided all the candidates. When everything is in order, we will send it (candidate list) to Chief Minister (Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud) and Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak),” he told a news conference at his office at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.
Dr Chan, who is Deputy Chief Minister, pointed out that SUPP needed candidates who appealed most to voters.
“The most important thing is whether the voters think our candidates are good. Unless 90 per cent of voters are party members, then you can say whoever it is, we win.
“But we don’t have 90 per cent of voters. We have been working very hard to get the right candidate for the people because this is all about serving the people,” he said.
He further clarified how the SUPP system worked as far as candidacy was concerned.
By tradition, party branches would decide a candidate and the name would be submitted to the central working committee (CWC) for endorsement.
If the CWC agreed with the branch, the name would be submitted to the state and national leaders for their approval.
“And CM, of course, from his own information will decide whether we are right or not. If he thinks we are right, then he will send it to PM and PM will also have his own information to see whether the candidate can win.
“Most important thing about election is not whether he is my friend or he is nice to me. Even if he is nice to me and he loses, you only make the person suffer,” he said.
He stressed that the party adhered to a simple principle, that it wanted only candidates who could deliver.
“So, don’t ask me anymore who is going to be the candidate because it would be most probably some candidates we can decide early while others later.
“Sometimes, I don’t want to say because I haven’t decided or the party hasn’t decided,” he said.
Asked what would happen if the party wanted a candidate but Taib or Najib had another person in mind, Dr Chan said: “We have to convince them. We must be very logical in our approach.”
ends//