In a further indictment of the Sarawak United People’s Party’s (Supp) weakening position, Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has rejected their candidate for mayor of Kuching City South.

james chan khay syn Instead, James Chan Kay Syn ( right ), 58, who managed one of Sarawak Timber Development Corporation’s (STIDC) subsidiaries has been appointed, effective June 1. This is the second time in succession a non-politician has been selected.

Abdul Taib released the appointment after Thursday’s state cabinet meeting, and echoed that Supp has to prove its support base before it can regain the mayor’s post.

Supp is part of the four-member ruling coalition and their president Dr George Chan is deputy chief minister of Sarawak. Chan issued a statement expressing his unhappiness on what transpired but was left with no choice except to accept the state cabinet’s decision.

Minister in charge of local government, Michael Manyin confirmed the appointment.

James Chan until recently was general manager of Hardwood Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of STIDC. An old boy of St Thomas's Secondary School, he is an accountan t by training, and is married with several children.

taib mahmud The mayoral position has been vacant since Aug 23 2007 after the demise of Chong Ted Tsiung.

Credibility, support lost

Abdul Taib made it clear yesterday that a party which has lost its credibility and support should not have its candidate as mayor .

Further, he wanted a non-politician in view of the current political circumstances, plus someone capable of revamping Kuching South City Hall.

There are speculations that the st ate cabinet intends to eventually merge the two existing councils - Kuching City South and Kuching City North, similar to the KL and Kota Kinabalu City Halls, with an apolitical mayor directly accountable to the executive.

The chief minister added that Supp representatives in cabinet did not forward arguments for their candidate to be considered.

george chan hong nam George Chan ( right ) said that the party would have to work hard to regain the mayor's post by building up the trust and confidence of the electorate in Kuching.

The state's premier Chinese parliamentary seat Bandar Kuching is under DAP (Chong Chieng Jen) and four of the five Chinese majority state seats are under DAP (Pending, Kota Sentosa and Batu Lintang) and PKR (Padungan).

No cabinet reshuffle

In another development, Abdul Taib has decided not to go ahead with a minor cabinet reshuffle as opposed to his previous announcement due to what he referred to as 'foreign storms'.

It is likely he was alluding to political developments at the federal level after the March 8 general election.

A few assistant ministers were expected to be dropped followed by fresh appointments.

Observers speculated that by postponing the reshuffle, Abul Taib avoided upsetting some and affect present political sensitivities.