SUPP mounts do-or-die challenge in Kuching

In 2006, the opposition scored a major breakthrough in the Kuching area, winning four out of the five state seats in the parliamentary constituency, a result that many in Sarawak believe set in motion the 'political tsunami' that swept through Peninsular Malaysia in 2008.

The DAP then wrested four seats – Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang and Kota Sentosa – from BN's Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP),  far beyond their expectations.

Although there have been relatively few complaints about the performance of the incumbents, maintaining the hold on the four seats, let alone sweeping up all five, is not going to be a walk in the park for Pakatan Rakyat, and the DAP in particular.

One of the most watched seats in Kuching is Pending , which is seeing a straight joust between incumbent Violet Yong (DAP) and Dr Sim Kui Hian (BN–SUPP).

Yong, 33, is a lawyer and fiery orator. Her challenger Sim, 46, a respected cardiologist, boasts a far more elaborate resume.

Sim spearheaded the Sarawak General Hospital Heart Centre (SGHHC), which not only provides reportedly affordable treatment, but also conducts research in genetics and molecular imaging.

He is using his medical credentials extensively in his campaign; sometimes sporting a white T-shirt with the picture of a heart on the left side of his chest and often speaks to the voters on the need to be healthy.

He even puns on his medical background, often saying that he serves the public with an "open heart", which he would then literally translate as "happiness" in Chinese.

Novice who behaves like a pro

Despite being obviously pedigree, Sim wades through the crowds wearing a wide smile and exploits his affable nature with ease, despite being a total political novice.

When he hit the stage at Kenyalang Commercial Centre on Wednesday night, he went through his list of achievements, which include direct access to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who officially opened the SGHHC in January.

“I told him (Najib) that Kuching needs more tertiary education centres. We need more branch universities, perhaps from China and India,” he told a crowd of about 300 people.

His name dropping, however, merely serves as a means of convincing voters that he is serious about helping Kuching in three areas – first class medical service, building more universities and increasing value-added employment.

“I'm talking about urban rejuvenation and renewal,” said Sim, sometimes stuttering but otherwise speaking flawless Hokkien. “Try me for five years. If my report card is unsatisfactory, then you can sack me.”

Sim also took potshots at the much younger Yong, alluding that she was all hot air and lacked the ability and connections to what he could bring to Kuching.

“You can point at the drains all day long, but you are not a magician. You can't fix the problem by pointing at it. You need the will to find funds to fix the problem,” he said.

Sim SUPP's best fresh face

He also jabbed at Yong and DAP's rally cry: to take down Abdul Taib Mahmud who has been chief minister for 30 years.

“What do you know about the 30-year problem? Thirty years ago you were still crawling and sucking milk. Taib has already promised he will step down,” Sim said.

There is no doubt that he is one of the best new faces fielded by SUPP as seen by the very impressive way he is running the campaign.

Moreover, he has been the focus of much publicty over the past few months, with Taib personally commending him at the BN state convention last month.

However, Yong is no pushover. Over the past five years, she has been busy highlighting many problems in her constituency, including successfully pushing for the lowering of land premiums.

“A lot of issues have been resolved over the past five years and people know that the source of the problems is the land code, which we have promised to amend. Thus, this is one of their reasons to support us,” Yong told Malaysiakini .

She won with 4,372 majority in 2006, which is considered respectable in a constituency with 30,000 voters.

The second-most talked about seat in Kuching is Padungan , located in the heart of the city,where incumbent Dominique Ng (Independent) and new faces Wong King Wei (DAP) and Sim Kiang Chok (SUPP) are vying for the seat.

This three-cornered fight stemmed from PKR's decision to swap Padungan for Batu Lintang next door, in a move that left Ng without a seat. He then quit PKR in a huff.

The devil you know or the devil you don't

Ng is well rooted in Padungan – a place where he has plied his trade for the past 20 years, including his time in DAP. However, ground reports suggest that voters tend to vote along party lines.

“Why is Ng ( left ) doing this? He should be a gentleman like Voon Lee Shan (the incumbent for Batu Lintang, who was dropped by DAP in the seat switch with PKR) and stay out of the contest.

“If the party doesn't want him to defend his seat, he should ask himself why,” one irate hawker told Malaysiakini .

But other voters are scratching their heads over which way to go.

One one hand, they want their vote to go for the strongest party - but this comes at the expense of someone familiar who has served them diligently.

Ng himself is trying to hedge his bets. He is telling voters that while his logo on the ballot slip has changed, his belief in and commitment to the Pakatan Rakyat agenda has not.

“If I win and Pakatan needs just Padungan to form the government, I will surely join them,” Ng told reporters yesterday.

Little is known about his opponents Wong and Sim.

Wong ( far right ) is a lawyer by training and had done his chambering with DAP chairperson Karpal Singh's legal firm. He then became special assistant to Kota Sentosa state assemblyperson Chong Chieng Jen.

Sim is an accomplished property developer and among his major projects include parts of Kota Sentosa, a satellite town about 20 minutes south of Kuching.

Heavyweights clash in Kota Sentosa

Chong, on the other hand, is locked in perhaps one of the stiffest battles in Kuching. He has long complained that there has been a flood of 5,000 new voters in Kota Sentosa , which he claims SUPP brought into the constituency that he won by a mere 531 votes in 2006.

His opponent, Alfred Yap Chin Loi, is a formidable candidate, a former assistant minister who has reportedly been very active in the constituency since his 2006 surprise defeat.

Chong ( right ), the son of Sarawak DAP veteran Chong Siew Chiang, is one of the best performers on the opposition bench in the state assembly and this election will show if his efforts are appreciated by the Kota Sentosa electorate.

But SUPP's best prospects appear to be in the semi-rural constituency of Batu Kawah , about 30 minutes south of Kuching, where incumbent Tan Joo Phoi will take on new face Christina Chew Wang See of the DAP.

Tan is a former Kota Padawan Municipal Council head, thus very familiar with the constituency. Sibu-born Chew is a political newcomer who joined the party last year.

The battle for Batu Kawah is taking shape as a classic David vs Goliath affair, for the DAP is still relatively alien to Batu Kawah folk. The seat was contested by the PKR in 2006.

The soft spoken Tan ( left ) will be banking on his record as a local troubleshooter against pint-sized chemical engineer Chew ( right ), who is urging the Batu Kawah electorate to support Pakatan’s urban counterparts in their efforts to unhorse Taib.

At a glance, it would seem Tan and SUPP have this contest in the bag. A whopping 48 percent of the electorate are rural voters, traditionally - and still  - supporters of the BN led by Taib.

Pakatan's best chance

Pakatan's best chance now appears to be the sole seat of Batu Lintang , where SUPP's Sih Hua Tong, PKR's See Chee How and Independent candidate Soo Li Na are involved in a three-way clash.

Sih ( far right ) is the SUPP Youth chief. Although his age sets him apart from most SUPP candidates, he is bogged down by the fact that he once served as a special assistant to Taib – which Pakatan portrays as Enemy No 1.

See ( centre ) is relatively familiar among the people in Batu Lintang, for he had tried to be their MP by contesting the Stampin parliamentary seat in 2008.

Soo ( far left ) is a disgruntled PKR member and poses little threat to other contestants.

The challenge now is for soft-spoken lawyer See to maintain the number of votes won by the outgoing assemblyperson, Voon Lee Shan, who in 2006 won by a 3,407 -vote majority, considered a comfortable figure for a constituency of 24,000 voters.

With still seven days to go, SUPP is fighting the "battle of the century" for the five Kuching seats.

Crowds at opposition rallies – where Taib becomes everyone's punching bag – have been encouraging but SUPP's door-to-door campaigning and its repeated warnings that the Chinese community could lose their representation in government if the party’s candidates are not voted in may well work in its favour.

But for now, at least in the case of the Padungan, Kota Sentosa and Pending constituencies, SUPP appears to be giving the incumbents a good run for their money.