All DAP MPs to defend seat except Julian Tan – Chong

KUCHING: All Democratic Action Party (DAP) incumbents in the state are expected to defend their respective parliamentary constituencies except the Stampin MP.

Its Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen announced last Saturday night that the party will retain all its incumbents except Julian Tan (Stampin MP) in the next general election.

Last Friday, Chong officially announced that DAP will field a new face, Dr Kelvin Yii, 32, for Stampin.

"All our incumbents will be retained except Julian who has extended his intention of not defending his seat. We have decided to field Dr Yii, who is an ideal candidate and has the potential to strengthen DAP and Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak," he told reporters during the DAP Kuching Lunar New Year gathering here.

Chong, who is expected to defend Bandar Kuching, said he hoped that voters in Stampin would give Dr Yii a chance in the coming polls.

"The difference between DAP and SUPP (Sarawak United People's Party) is that we exercise absolute autonomy and there is no need for us to get approval from (PH chairman Tun) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) to announce that Dr Yii is our candidate for Stampin.

"As for SUPP, it is not even (state Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi) Abang Johari's (Tun Openg) prerogative to decide on their candidates because (BN chairman and Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib (Tun Razak) has the final say of it all," he asserted.

Chong said whoever the BN candidate is for Stampin would have to listen to Najib should the candidate be elected.

He then shot down SUPP's talks about fighting for Sarawak autonomy.

"If SUPP has no say over a candidate for Stampin, what is it that SUPP is talking about when they say that they are fighting for Sarawak autonomy?"

The DAP incumbents who are expected to take on BN again in the 14th general election are Chong (Bandar Kuching), Andrew Wong (Sarikei), Oscar Ling (Sibu) and Alice Lau (Lanang).

Prior to this, Chong had on several occasions made it clear that PH Sarawak had agreed on maintaining the status quo in seat allocation.

In the 2013 general election, DAP also contested in Mas Gading, Serian, Mukah, Kapit, Bintulu and Lawas.

When asked about the candidates for these constituencies, the DAP heavyweight said: "We will make another announcement later."

DAP candidates for the seats they failed to wrest from BN in the last general election were Mordi Bimol (Mas Gading), Edward Andrew Luwak (Serian), Haj Merawin (Mukah), Ramli Malaka (Kapit), Dr John Brian Anthony (Bintulu) and Dr Bob Baru Langub (Lawas).