KOTA KINABALU: Will Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) field a non-party member, non-politician for the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat in the 14th General Election (GE14)?
There are talks that Chinese community leaders, including the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) president Tan Sri Dr T.C. Goh, JP, the United Sabah Chinese Communities Associations of Kota Kinabalu (USCCAKK) president Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen and Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KKCCCI) Datuk Michael Lui being likely candidates.
PBS deputy president Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai said it was normal for political parties to field talents from outside the party.
Nonetheless, he said PBS had yet to finalize its candidacy at this stage.
He said the candidate list would be evaluated by the party president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, acting president Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili and the Supreme Council before submission to Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Tan Sri Musa Aman and the Prime Minister cum national BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for final decision.
As the second largest component party in Sabah BN, PBS won four out of five parliamentary seats and seven out of 13 state seats contested in the 13th General Election (GE13).
Asked if PBS will be allocated five parliamentary and 13 state seats in GE14, Yee said component parties of BN would normally be allocated the same number of seats.
He also said that the majority of the candidates for PBS parliamentary and state seats have been decided.
On the candidates for Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat, Api-Api, Tanjung Aru and Inanam state seats, Yee said the announcement would be made in due course.
In GE13, Chin Teck Ming (BN-PBS) lost the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat to Jimmy Wong (DAP) while Christina Liew (PKR) wrested the Api-Api state seat from Yee (BN-PBS) and Joseph P. Lantip (BN-PBS) was defeated by Dr Roland Chia (PKR) in Inanam state constituency.
Meanwhile, Datuk Edward Yong Oui Fah (BN-PBS) won the Tanjung Aru seat after defeating Salleh bin Tiasi@Tiaseh (STAR), Hamid bin Ismail (PAS) and Richard Yong We Kong (SAPP).
On talks that PBS might consider fielding Chinese community leaders, including Goh, Wong and Lui as potential candidates, Yee said anything was possible in politics.
PBS fielded Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching from the education sector for Tawau parliamentary constituency in GE13, who won the seat and was appointed as Deputy Minister of Higher Education.
Chin, on the other hand, may still be a candidate for Kota Kinabalu parliamentary constituency despite having lost the seat twice.
Asked if he would be contesting for the Api-Api state seat in the coming election, Yee said he would leave it to the leadership of the party.