Riot urges supporters, voters in Serian not to be disappointed

KUCHING: Serian MP Dato Sri Richard Riot Jaem has called on his supporters and voters not to be sad and disappointed with the failure of Barisan Nasional to win the just-concluded 14th General Election (GE14).

Although he will no longer be a cabinet minister like before, he would still serve the constituents of Serian as their elected representative and voice in the Parliament.

Riot also said although Pakatan Harapan now forms the new federal government, BN is still the government in Sarawak.

His victory on Wednesday meant that Riot is now the MP of Serian for the seventh consecutive term.

In the previous cabinet under BN, Riot was the Minister of Human Resources. He was also the first Bidayuh appointed a full minister at the federal level.

"Don't be sad, don't be discouraged. We should be proud that we (BN) win Serian. I am still the member of parliament for Serian. You can still call me YB Dato Sri Richard Riot.

"Team BN P199 Serian has won. Sarawak BN won 19 seats in the state. Only BN Malaysia lost the election so I am no longer a minister. This is because the prerogative to appoint ministers is now with the new Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who leads the new government helmed by Pakatan Harapan," he said yesterday.

Riot won the Serian parliamentary constituency on Wednesday after he polled 17,545 votes to win by 9,905-vote majority against his closest challenger Edward Andrew Luak of DAP who managed 7,640 votes.

The three-cornered fight for Serian also featured independent Senior William Rade using the 'fish' logo, who polled 2,234 votes.

Though Riot won convincingly, the majority achieved this time was 3,201 votes less than the 13,151-vote majority in the GE13 five years ago.