Lo (left) speaks to reporters when visiting the newly-completed project at Kampung Tematu.
KUCHING (July 26): Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang is optimistic the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) will wrest back the Stampin parliamentary seat during the next election.
The seat has been held by the Democratic Action Party (DAP) since 2013.
“It is under the Opposition but we are going to get Stampin back. Yes, this time we are going to get Stampin back,” he told reporters after visiting a recently completed project at Kampung Tematu today.
The Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman was responding to remarks that Stampin is currently the only opposition-held constituency under the council’s jurisdiction.
The other two parliamentary constituencies are Petra Jaya, which is held by Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), while Puncak Borneo is held by Datuk Willie Mongin, who recently applied to join PBB.
SUPP and PBB are component parties under Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
There are also six state constituencies in MPP’s area, namely Batu Kitang, Batu Kawah, Kota Sentosa, Mambong, Tupong, and a small part of Satok, all of which are held by GPS.
Lo, who is SUPP deputy secretary general, did not however reveal who the party would nominate as the GPS candidate in Stampin.
Stampin is one of seven parliamentary constituencies considered traditional seats for SUPP.
In the 2018 parliamentary election, SUPP president Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian contested in Stampin for Barisan Nasional but failed to defeat DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
Former deputy works minister Datuk Yong Khoon Seng from SUPP was a three-term Stampin MP from 1999, until he was unseated by DAP’s Julian Tan in 2013.
On July 19, SUPP Stakan named chairman Datuk Sim Kiang Chiok as its preferred potential candidate for Stampin.
The announcement apparently did not go down well with Dr Sim, who was displeased the branch had gone public with their choice.
In 2018, SUPP only managed to win the Serian parliamentary seat.
In the 12th state election last year, SUPP won 13 of the 18 seats allocated to the party for GPS, almost doubling the number of state seats it won five years ago.