KUCHING, Oct 14 — Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar today clarified that he was not indicating that he might sit out the 15th general election (GE15) when he thanked Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg for the past support and confidence in him as Santubong MP.

Apart from thanking the premier, Wan Junaidi also expressed his gratitude to voters for their past support since 2004.

He said the statement does not mean that he would not be contesting in GE15.

However, he said, it is up to Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) if he should defend his seat in the coming general election.

"It is just like in Parliament, maybe people may not understand the concept. But I believe in the concept.

"The moment Parliament is dissolved, then the seat of your constituency goes back to the party. Whoever becomes the candidate depends very much on whom the party wants to choose,” he said when Malay Mail asked him if he was stepping down from politics.

"So, after the dissolution, I can no longer claim that (Santubong) is my seat. It 100 per cent belongs to the party," Wan Junaidi, previously also the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law), said.

"If the president and the top leaders think that I should continue to serve in that constituency that I have been doing good and that the people like me in the area and I am a winnable candidate, then it is up to the party to decide,” he said.

Wan Junaidi said he knew that he was going to be uncontested in Batang Lupar, and yet he agreed to move when then chief minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud asked him to contest in Santubong.

He said he had no issue leaving Batang Lupar to go to Santubong.

"I am like that. I will continue to be like that. I will continue to be loyal to the party and I will follow whatever the party chooses me to do,” he said.

Wan Junaidi also expressed his gratitude to caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, his colleagues in the federal Cabinet and his team of officers and staff in the law division of the Prime Minister’s Department for their support and assistance in realising the tasks entrusted to him.