Andrew Wong: Loss reflects people’s desire for change across nation
SIBU: The wind of change that swept across the country on polling day saw the Democratic Action Party ( DAP) retain Sibu parliamentary seat with a bigger majority.
Its incumbent candidate Oscar Ling won with an increased majority of 11,422 votes from just 2,841 votes previously.
In the only four- cornered fight in Sarawak, Ling garnered 33,811 votes to beat Barisan Nasional ( BN) candidate Dato Andrew Wong, who polled 22,389 votes, Sarawak Peace Party’s ( Peace) Jamie Tiew Yen Huong (377 votes) and State Reform Party’s (STAR) Simon Tiong (176 votes).
Wong concurred that the DAP secured a bigger majority as Sibu folk wanted change.
“I think at the end of the day, and if you look at areas like Stampin and even in Sabah and Johor, I think it is not only the Chinese that wanted change but the Bidayuhs and Malays too wanted a change.
“Definitely, the bigger majority loss in P212 ( Sibu) is actually a reflection of what happened across Malaysia,” he said when contacted yesterday.
The seat saw a voter turnout of 77.8 per cent, with 515 spoilt votes.
Asked if the defeat was a big setback for him, Wong replied in the negative.
“No, no because I think personally, the reason (for the loss) is the (desire for) change by people across the whole nation itself.
“For me personally, I think this is not targeted specifically towards Sibu or at me. I think people just wanted a change.”
Asked if his Rancangan Sibu 1 (RS1) plan will be continued, Wong felt it was only fair for the re-elected MPs Oscar Ling and Alice Lau to be given the opportunity to implement their vision for Sibu.
He pointed out with the change of government at the federal level, the two MPs are now actually government parliamentarians.
“So, in a way I think to be fair to them, we have to give them the opportunity to implement their own plans for Sibu because this is a huge change.
“So, for RS1 it is always there. But I think people should give both Oscar and Alice a chance to implement their vision for Sibu.
On the election results, he said it clearly demonstrated the people’s will and showed that democracy is very much alive in Malaysia.
Asked on his next move, Wong highlighted it was still too early to say what he would be doing at the moment because the election had just concluded.
“More than likely, I will see what the new (federal) government does because this is a totally new political scenario for Malaysia, especially for Sarawak.
“Sarawak is still in BN, so it will be interesting to see what the new government’s policy toward Sarawak will be,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP) Bawang Assan branch chairman Robert Lau Hui Yew was of the opinion that federal and state elections are “a different ball game altogether”.
“I have not seen the detailed figure, but Iban areas have seen reduced majority. That one, I don’t really know why. Perhaps the younger voters had an impact there.”
He also noted that BN did not fare well in Pelawan, one of the three state seats that make up Sibu parliamentary seat, which secured low Chinese votes.
On whether the ‘wind of change’ would be felt in the next state election, Lau said it was too early to predict.