SARAWAK FOCUS: Despite the “feel good” factor that Sarawakians generally have towards Chief Minister Adenan Satem and his dynamic and impartial leadership, most punters believe the Opposition will still rule the roost in Chinese-majority urban seats.
In the state's southern region, the general perception is that it will be tough for the BN to unseat the incumbents in four areas - Padungan, Batu Lintang, Pending and Sentosa.
Whatever the situation might be, BN, which is represented by SUPP in these constituencies, is never short of young, qualified and aspiring candidates who are raring to go and prove their worth.
Though BN has yet to announce its list of candidates, it is no secret that Peter Pui will make his debut against DAP's Wong King Wei in Padungan, Sih Hua Tong will have a second chance against PKR's See Chee How in Batu Lintang, young and outspoken Milton Foo will square off with DAP's Violet Yong in Pending while SUPP Public Complaints Bureau chief Wilfred Yap will take on DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen in Sentosa.
In the 10th Sarawak Election in 2011, punters gave a generous 5,000-vote handicap on newcomer King Wei to win the Padungan seat just minutes after nomination closed. There were few takers and King Wei went on to grab the seat with a majority of 7,884 votes.
In Batu Lintang then, Hua Tong who was political secretary to the chief minister went into the election with high expectation against Chee How. Both were making their election debut but Hua Tong was soundly beaten by a 8,381-vote margin.
Meanwhile in Pending, cardiologist Dr Sim Kui Hian, the son of the late Sim Kheng Hong, one of SUPP's founding members, went into the election with high expectation too but was eventually thrashed by Violet by a 7,595-vote majority.
In Sentosa, SUPP veteran Alfred Yap who was narrowly beaten by Chong in 2006 with a 400-vote margin, thought he could reverse the fortune in 2011. However, Chong won again, this time by more than 4,000 votes.
There was also some drama from the Opposition before the 2011 state election. Due to reasons best known among themselves, DAP wanted Padungan badly and was willing to swap its Batu Lintang seat for Padungan. DAP's incumbent for Batu Lintang then was Voon Lee Shan while PKR was represented by Dominique Ng in Padungan.
After some top negotiations between the two parties, DAP managed to swap its Batu Lintang seat for Padungan but in the process, Lee Shan and Dominique were both mysteriously dropped by their respective parties in the election.
Former DAP strongman and three-term MP for Bandar Kuching, the late Sim Kwang Yang had tried desperately to win a ticket into the state legislative assembly but failed on several occasions.
But where he had failed, the younger generation of opposition candidates made a dramatic sweep of all the urban seats in Kuching through a wave of anti-government sentiment sweeping across the country in 2006.
Well, the ultimate aim of any political party is not to remain as an opposition forever but to take over the reins of the government. Should DAP and PKR have their political fortunes, they might rule the state one day.
Then it would be their turn to take the brunt of criticism from the opposition parties of the day.-The Ant Daily
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