Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) may have had to 'give up' seats to its splinter United People's Party (UPP), but president Dr Sim Kui Hian has insisted that they still belonged to SUPP.
Sim said SUPP, which is multi-racial and multi-faith, feels “shortchanged” by the allocation of only one and not two new seats in the Bumiputra-majority areas, despite state BN chief Adenan Satem’s promises.
SUPP had been lobbying to re-contest in Pelawan in the upcoming Sarawak elections but lost the seat to UPP today when Adenan announced in a press conference in Sibu that the BN direct candidate for Pelawan is Janet Lau from UPP.
Present at the press conference with Adenan were UPP president Dr Wong Soon Koh and Sarawak People's Energy Party (Teras) president William Mawan.
Lau is the widow of the late Robert Lau, a former SUPP parliamentarian for Sibu.
"I also wish to reiterate that SUPP seats currently fielded by BN direct candidates remain as SUPP seats. Should they succeed in securing these seats for BN, their choice of a political party is quite clear," said Sim.
UPP has also been given Bawang Assan, Dudong, Pujut, Opar, Mambong, and Engkilili, and is also eyeing to wrest the Meradong seat.
The UPP candidates are expected to resign from their party to contest as direct BN candidates.
However, Sim insists that if they win, they must join SUPP as the seats belong to the party.
Adenan had so far only allocated 12 seats for SUPP to contest in the upcoming Sarawak election on May 7 compared to the 19 it contested last round.
'Focus on regaining autonomy'
SUPP's preferred choice in Pelawan is Michael Tiang, a Sibu-based lawyer and grassroots leader.
Following the announcement, Sim says that it is clearly not SUPP’s best moment in its 57-year history but said the party’s “resilience” is what is important.
“It is not the strongest nor the smartest that will survive, but the most adaptable," he said a statement issued by the president's office after a central working committee meeting today.
Sim urged party members to "remain calm and focused”, saying the party's immediate goal is to win its existing seats, and consolidate power "to keep check and balance within BN government".
"Comments that are not constructive or impractical only serve to distract us from the critical mission at hand, which is to win our existing seats in this upcoming election," he said.
The party’s focus, Sim stressed, is clear - “to regain Sarawak’s autonomy from Putrajaya”.
"This state election has a greater mission beyond the Sarawak election. This election is about the future of the people of Sarawak and how we can regain our regain our right to decide and steer our own future," the statement read.
Sim said it was time to put differences aside and stand united to safeguard Sarawak.
“Now is the time for us to pool our efforts together and focus on denying West Malaysian parties on making further inroads into Sarawak politics. State elections are for state issues and not federal issues,” he added in the statement.
