Adam Yii
MIRI: Miri mayor and SUPP Pujut branch chairman Adam Yii Siew Sang is expected to be named as BN candidate for Pujut by-election today.
Well-placed sources said he is picked over the other potential candidates by the top BN leadership, and is expected to face off with DAP Sarawak secretary Alan Ling Sie Kiong although the opposition party would only announce its ‘contingency’ candidate today also.
Both SUPP and UPP sources declined to comment, saying that there has been no official announcement yet although SUPP has previously announced that Yii would be SUPP’s candidate for the by-election.
SUPP secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew, who is also Piasau assemblyman, said: “Honestly I still don’t know, and should know by tomorrow (today) afternoon after the announcement by the Chief Minister.
“We hope and pray that the seat is for SUPP and that Yii is the candidate.”
Yii, 60, a retired geologist, is a father-of-two who worked for a French company from 1980, and has served in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India and China before returning to Miri in 1985, where the company also dealt with Shell.
He resigned in 1986, and later worked for a local oil and gas company for a year before setting up his own company. He retired in 2012 to become fully involved in politics.
He first joined SUPP Krokop sub-branch in 1990, and has been elected to various posts in the party – from branch level to the top leadership.
His first post was as Miri branch youth assistant organising secretary before becoming Miri youth organising secretary and Miri branch assistant organising secretary.
Then he was elected as the Miri branch organising secretary until the Pujut branch was formed where he was elected as the deputy branch chairman in 2007.
In 2014, he was elected as Pujut branch chairman until now. The latest post he held in the party was as publicity and information secretary.He is also the chairman of SUPP oil and gas committee to plan strategies that will help the state government convince the federal government to better serve Sarawak’s interests and its people.
SUPP Pujut has about 5,000 registered members, out of which about 70 percent are Chinese.
Yii was nominated by SUPP to stand in Pujut in the last state election but former chief minister DatukPatinggi Tan Sri AdenanSatem picked DatukHii King Chiong of UPP instead. The latter subsequently lost to DAP’s Dr Ting TiongChoon who was disqualified by the State Legislative Assembly at the last sitting on May 12, which paved the way for the by-election.
Yii has hit the ground in the last few weeks, and expressed optimism that SUPP would be given the seat despite strong contention from UPP which argued that it has learnt from its defeat and is confident that its intact election machinery and experience will serve it well.
UPP has also proposed a list of potential candidates, among them its Pujut branch chairman Bruce Chai, to the top leaders and the party has even set up its election operations room.
Both SUPP and UPP, while staking their claims, had said they would leave it to Chief Minister and Sarawak BN chairman Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg to decide on the BN candidate.
Local pundits said the battle is most likely between BN and DAP although some said a five-cornered fight is also possible.
State Reform Party (STAR) president Lina Soo in a press conference in Miri last week announced that the party would be contesting in Pujut.
Yii accompanied his party president and Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr SimHui Kian for a series of functions and meeting in Miri yesterday.
He has expressed confidence and optimism on the reality on the ground, saying SUPP deserves to be given back Pujut seat to contest.
The series of meet-the-people sessionsin the last couple of weeks was to show the people SUPP’s serious intention to take back Pujut seat for BN, he added.
Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that Abang Johari will announce the BN Pujut by-election candidate this afternoon after a state BN meeting which starts at 3pm at the PBB headquarters along Jalan Bako in Kuching.