PDP reaffirms Sam Laya only nominated candidate for Ba Kelalan
MIRI: Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has reaffirmed that lawyer Sam Laya is its only nominated candidate for the Ba Kelalan seat in the next state election.
When contacted on Friday, PDP president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing confirmed that PDP only submitted one name to contest the seat, namely Sam Laya.
“Yes,” was Tiong’s succinct response when asked if Sam was the party’s only candidate for Ba Kelalan.
Tiong’s response came amidst speculation that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) may be fielding Libat Langub to contest the seat instead of Sam.
Meanwhile, PDP Youth chief Robert Ayu in a statement yesterday said that Tiong had arrived in Lawas yesterday for a four-day official visit to Ba Kelalan and central Semadoh.
“Upon his arrival at the airport today, the party president had told the community leaders who were present to welcome him that he had only submitted one name to the top leadership and that is Sam Laya for Ba Kelalan.
“His hope is that the supporters will be all united to support Sam,” Robert said.
He lamented that in the last state election, voters were undecided as there were so many candidates fighting for the thenBarisan Nasional (BN) seat.
“To avoid repeating the same mistake, PDP this time chose only one candidate and Sam has been moving around in the constituency since July 2019,” Robert said.
He also revealed that Tiong and his entourage would be in Ba Kelalan yesterday and today, and the party will have a meet-thepeople session in Buduk Nur.
“From there, the entourage will then go to Long Semadoh for a similar event before going to Long Luping in the evening for another meet-the-people session there,” he said.
Ba Kelalan is one of the hot seats in northern region in the state election.
It is expected that the seat will see five-cornered fight between GPS, Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Parti Sarawak Bersatu, Parti Bumi Kenyalang and an Independent candidate.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) potential candidate for the seat is Martin Samuel Labo, while Baru Bian will defend his seat for Parti Sarawak Bersatu and Peter Asut will contest under the Parti Bumi Kenyalang ticket.
Meanwhile, Agnes Padan is rumoured to stand as an independent candidate after she relinquished her post as PKR Sarawak’s Women chief early this month.