KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) is likely to field Dr Benedict Poris Besong as its candidate for Bengoh in the next state election .
A SUPP party member told The Borneo Post yesterday that among the potential candidates the party had identified Poris, a Customs Department senior assistant director who was retiring at the end of this year, was the most winnable.
He added that he had no grudges against the other potential SUPP candidates including businessman Akim Sarok, bank officer Andrew Puro and Andrew Tanyuh Nub, son of the former Bengoh assemblyman late Datuk William Tanyuh Nub, but they were all rarely known among the voters.
“I strongly believe the party would not simply put up unpopular people as candidates because the winning chances, among others depend much on your personal popularity and to me this is what Dr Benedict Poris has,” he said.
He added that Poris, who hailed from Kampung Jambu in Penrissen was popular among the people because of his past involvement in various social activities in the area.
“He was the first president of the Biperoh Association Kuching and held the post for six years until March this year and throughout the period he had mixed with a lot of people from all walks of live,” he said.
Another advantage for Poris is that he could secure the support from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) through his son Bronnie who is the PBB Bengoh deputy youth chief.
“For many of us, should SUPP get the seat, we believe that Poris is the most winnable candidate among other lobbyists. So we want the party to seriously consider him as party candidate this time,” the party member insisted.
In the last election Bengoh incumbent Datuk Dr Jerip Susil won the seat for BN as a SUPP candidate with 3,646 votes majority in a four-corner fight.
His opponents were Willie Mongin (PKR), Wejok Tomik (Independent) and Richard @ Peter Margaret (SNAP).
However, Dr Jerip left SUPP and joined United People’s Party (UPP) which has yet to officially join BN.
As such it is still unclear which of the two parties would be sanctioned by BN top leadership to defend the seat.-Borneo Post
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