(Front, from left) Elia, Dr Ting, Marcus and Hee gather for a group photo with other newly-registered DAP Miri members after the press conference.
MIRI: The Democratic Action Party (DAP) will not be eyeing Marudi in the next state election, says newly-joined member Elia Bit.
In the 2016 polls, Elia was fielded by the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Baram branch to contest in Marudi, where she was up against Datu Dr Penguang Manggil and independent candidate Louis Jalong.
Penguang secured 5,493 votes to win the seat for the then-Barisan Nasional (BN) Sarawak, while Elia garnered 4,106 votes.
“Honestly-speaking, I’m still young. I don’t really think much of becoming candidate or so forth. For me, I decided to join DAP to garner experience,” Elia, 31, told reporters during a press conference at DAP Miri headquarters yesterday, where DAP Miri chairman Dr Ting Tiong Choon, DAP Long Lama chairman Margus Hugo, and Miri DAP Youth chief Peter Hee were also present.
The session was meant to announce that Elia joined the DAP in February this year.
Adding on, she said as a DAP and Pakatan Harapan (PH) member, she would continue to support PKR as well as the candidate that PKR would pick for Marudi in the next state election.
Touching on her decision to join DAP, Elia said as a young politician, this was a way for her to learn and gain more experience in politics.
“I have learned a lot during my years with PKR. Earlier this year, I decided to join DAP as I wanted to learn more about politics through a new platform. Even though DAP is more of ‘city politics’, that does not mean that I will stop working for people in the rural areas.
“Even though I’ve switched to DAP, we are all still under PH. It’s just that the platform is a bit different in terms of urban and sub-urban areas,” she elaborated.
Elia also said the delayed announcement about her joining the DAP was due to various circumstances.
“I did not announce it earlier as the political situation was still ‘in chaos’ at the time.
“But I think I must announce it now to be fair to my supporters, especially those in Marudi.
“I’ve been quiet and people have been making all kinds of assumptions. Some said I joined PPBM (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia); some said it was PSB (Parti Sarawak Bersatu).
“Hence, this announcement,” she pointed out.
At the press conference yesterday, DAP Miri announced that it has received eight new members – three of whom, including Elia, were former PKR members.
Meanwhile in his remarks, Dr Ting denied the allegation about Elia joining the DAP to contest in Marudi or some other state constituencies.
“For DAP, our candidates are selected locally by the candidates selection committee – we do not know who is going to be selected for any particular area; this said, DAP is not going to contest in the rural areas.
“Under PH, we have this agreement whereby whichever party that had contested a particular seat in the previous election, would contest the same seat again in the next polls. PKR is already there (Marudi) and DAP is not going to encroach into PKR’s seat,” he stressed.
In welcoming the eight new members into the party, Dr Ting pointed out that DAP would be a good platform for them to serve the communities.
“Through DAP, we can still serve rural communities.
“In fact, about a year ago we went to Bunan Gega and helped about 60 people who had applied for various assistance programmes, including the application for Mykad.
“I’m happy to say that a lot of the assistance has been approved,” he added.