KUCHING, Dec 4 — Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian today said he was left “shocked and emotional” by Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) announcement that it had selected Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing as its candidate for Dudong in the state election.
He said Tiong was not the original choice, but things changed in the 24 hours before the list of all GPS candidates was confirmed yesterday.
“The decision has been made and all the candidates come under GPS, and we have to move on,” Dr Sim, who is also the state local government and housing minister, told reporters.
“In fact, I was so shocked and emotional with the GPS decision on Dudong and it was unexpected and it was not something that we understood in the last 24 hours,” he said.
Tiong, who is also Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president, was named as GPS candidate for Dudong, instead of a SUPP member.
Dudong has been an SUPP seat traditionally, and in the 2016 state election, it was won by Datuk Tiong Thai King who ran as a SUPP-Barisan Nasional candidate.
However, he left SUPP to join Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) led by former SUPP branch chairman Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh.
Mambong, another SUPP seat, is to be contested by Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, who is now a PBB member, in the state election.
He was formerly a SUPP member before he joined PSB.
Dr Jerip later left PSB to join PBB.
Dr Sim said SUPP has groomed potential candidates in both Dudong and Mambong, but they were not nominated by GPS, adding that they have been working very hard on the ground.
He urged party members to be focused and support all GPS candidates in the state election.
“As GPS is certain to form the next state government, I urge Chinese voters to go all out to support GPS, in particular SUPP, as GPS is for all races,” he said.
He added Chief Minister Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg had openly appealed to Chinese voters to support SUPP candidates.
“They should help to strengthen SUPP’s position inside GPS,” he said.
