The four candidates, from left, Kee Yew, Jamie, Ling and Tiong raising their hands after their names were announced by Returning Officer Wong Hee Sieng at Sibu Civic Centre to contest in P212 Sibu.
SIBU: It is a four-cornered fight for the hot seat P212 Sibu involving BN, DAP, Sarawak Peace Party (SPP) and State Reform Party (STAR).
BN candidate Dato Andrew Wong Kee Yew, 42, will face it off with DAP incumbent Oscar Ling, 41, SPP Jamie Tiew, 48, and STAR Simon Tiong Ing Tung, 50.
Returning Officer Wong Hee Sieng announced in Sibu Civic Centre at 10.43am today that the Election Commission had received nomination papers from four candidates and that none had been disqualified.
He also announced that early voting will be on May 5, while Polling Day on May 9.
Meanwhile, Kee Yew was allocated the number one, Jamie with two, Ling (three) and Tiong, four.
Speaking to reporters later, Kee Yew said he was not nervous about the coming May 9 Election, but covering as many areas as he could in the vast Sibu parliamentary, which comprises Bawang Assan, Nangka and Pelawan.
“The important area is the town area which will decide the outcome of the election,” he added.
Ling described Sibu as a winnable seat for DAP.
He added that DAP needed bigger voter turnout to retain the seat.
On the other hand, he noted that if the voter turnout is less than 80 per cent, it will put DAP at a disadvantage.
“So, we need big voter turnout to make it 50-50 chance of winning the Sibu seat,” Ling expounded.
He said retaining Sibu is no walk in the park as according to the statistics of 2016’s state election, Sibu is the toughest seat to win among all other seats in Sarawak.
Jamie disclosed that her reason to contest was to enlighten people on the rights enshrined in Malaysia Agreement 1963 and to fight for the return of such rights.
“It is time for Sarawakians to rise up and demand for the return of state’s rights,” she said.
Tiong, meanwhile, described himself as a ‘super underdog’, and it is his dream to contest in an election.
“It is also the party decision to take part in election to tell people especially when we fight for MA63 what is actually written in MA63,” he added.
In the last parliamentary election in 2013, DAP fielded a new face – pharmacist Oscar Ling Chai Yew, who garnered 26,808 votes to win the Sibu seat, edging Temenggong Dato Vincent Lau who polled 23,967 votes, while independent candidate Narawi Haron received 203 votes.
There are 74,149 registered voters in Sibu parliamentary seat.