MIRI: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) is upbeat about recapturing the Miri parliamentary seat from PKR as both parties gear towards nomination day tomorrow for the 14th General Election (GE14).
SUPP vice president Datuk Lee Kim Shin said the party had a better chance of winning Miri in the upcoming polls compare to PKR, which was caught in a dispute over the opposition’s pick to stand at the parliamentary seat.
The existence of dissenting voices over Dr Michael Teo of PKR’s candidacy in Miri, Lee said, was proof of immature politics among opposition leaders which would not benefit the people in the state.
“This also shows the opposition is not ready and not capable of bringing positive changes and development to the parliamentary constituency,” Lee, who is also the party’s election coordinating committee for the Miri parliamentary seat, said today.
He was referring to the dispute over opposition’s decision to retain Teo, who is also the incumbent for the Miri parliamentary seat.
Lee described the opposition liaise as a pact without substance, which had created irrelevant issue to gain support from the people here.
Unlike the opposition, Barisan Nasional and SUPP were banking on the track record of its candidate for Miri in GE14, Datuk Sebastian Ting, who had continued serving constituents despite losing the parliamentary seat to Teo during the last general election.
“We want to bring changes in Miri in line with the vision of the state government to transform Sarawak into a developed state by the year 2030,” Lee said.
During the 13th General Election in 2013, Teo won the Miri parliamentary seat when he polled 29,902 votes in a three cornered fight with Sebastian and Star candidate Chong Kon Fatt.
Sebastian garnered 24,917 votes while Chong trailed behind with only 306 votes.
Sebastian, who is also the Piasau state assemblyman, has been given another chance by BN when he was named as the ruling coalition’s candidate for the Miri parliamentary seat in GE14.
Miri is one of the many opposition parliamentary seats targeted by Sarawak BN in GE14 apart from Stampin, Sarikei and Sibu.
