Tan believed that the coalition has a fighting chance to win in Stampin as it had won all the three state seats under the parliamentary constituency namely Batu Kawah, Batu Kitang and Kota Sentosa.
KUCHING (Oct 17): Tan Kai, a Sarawak United People’s Party’s (SUPP) potential candidate for Stampin, is optimistic that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) can recoup the parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15).
Tan, who is backed by the SUPP Batu Kawah branch, believed that the coalition has a fighting chance to win in Stampin as it had won all the three state seats under the parliamentary constituency namely Batu Kawah, Batu Kitang and Kota Sentosa.
“Based on the state election last year, when GPS/SUPP won all three state seats under Stampin, we have hope to regain Stampin which we lost twice in GE13 and GE14,” the 51-year-old told The Borneo Post today.
Tan, who is an electrical engineer by profession, pointed out that his candidacy was still not confirmed as the other SUPP branches in Stampin could have other candidates to propose.
“Stampin consists of Batu Kawah, Batu Kitang and Kota Sentosa, I was recommended by one of the three branches as a candidate, meaning I still have friendly competition with my comrades within the party,” he said.
Yesterday, SUPP Batu Kawah branch chairman Lim Ah Ted said they had recommended Tan as a potential candidate to wrest Stampin from the opposition.
Lim said Tan should be the candidate and not SUPP president Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, who contested the seat in the previous general election, since he is now a deputy premier.
Responding to this, Tan, who has been with SUPP since 1996, said the onus to pick the GPS candidate is with the coalition’s top leaders.
He said they would need all the support they could get in order to win back Stampin in GE15.
“We need people’s support in order to regain Stampin as Sarawak needs a bigger voice in Parliament and Malaysia needs a stable government,” he added.
If GPS names Tan as its candidate for Stampin this election, it would be his second outing in a general election.
“I only stood once during GE13,” he recalled.
When asked to rate his chances of winning in Stampin, he responded by saying that it was a subjective question.
He also added he had confidence that GPS, given its record of good governance in Sarawak, will win big in the coming general election.
He believed that people would give their support to GPS in order to have a bigger voice in Parliament.
“They are also looking forward to have a stable government, instead of voting a party or coalition that ends up changing prime minister for three times,” Tan said.
If Tan is made the GPS candidate for Stampin and if Democratic Action Party’s Stampin incumbent Chong Chieng Jen is defending the seat, the duo will be locking horns for the second time, but in a different parliamentary constituency this GE15.
During the 2013 general election, Tan stood in an election for the first time and was defeated by Chong in Bandar Kuching.
Chong, who polled 30,133 votes against Tan with a comfortable 19,642 vote-majority, retained the Bandar Kuching constituency for DAP for the third time in the 2013 polls.
In the 2018 general polls, Chong switched to contest in Stampin and retained the seat after defeating Dr Sim with a 14,221 vote-majority. Julian Tan was the incumbent prior to the last general election.