Epic battle between SUPP and DAP

It's early days yet to determine who between the Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP) and DAP have the edge in the coming polls.

By Stephen Winfred
KUCHING: Never before has a battle been fought so hard for the support of urban voters than in the coming 10th state election on April 16.

Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) contesting under the Barisan Nasional banner is facing the onslaught from the DAP in 15 urban seats in Kuching, Sibu and Miri.

Both sides are leaving no stones unturned in the battle described as the hottest ever in the state electoral history.

While SUPP is fighting for its survival, the DAP regards this election as “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to increase the number of its seat in the 71-seat state assembly.

DAP, which won six seats in the 2006 state elections, has described the polls as the “battle of the century.”

DAP and SUPP-BN are facing each other in 14 seats – namely Padungan, Pending, Batu Kawah, Kota Sentosa (in Kuching), Simanggang (Sri Aman), Repok, Meradong (in Sarikei), Bukit Assek, Dudong, Bawang Assan, Pelawan (in Sibu) Kidurong (in Bintulu), and Piasau and Pujut (in Miri).

The DAP is also trying its luck in unseating PBB in one of its stronghold in Bukit Kota (in Limbang).

“This election, though the toughest, is the best opportunity for us to win big. That is why we called it the battle of the century,” said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

The DAP sees potential in capturing seats like Padungan, Batu Kawah, Repok, Pelawan and Pujut besides retaining Kota Sentosa, Pending, Bukit Assek, Kidurong and Meradong in this election.

BN to lose more seats
Political analyst with UCSI University Ong Kian Ming said the response in the three urban areas – Kuching, Sibu and Miri – for DAP has been good with the party attracting huge crowds at its ceramahs in Kuching.



“Initial feeling on the ground is that the opposition is already gaining ground. It looks like BN is going to lose more seats in urban areas,” he said.

Apart from urban seats in Kuching and Sibu, DAP seems to be on the right track to extend its winning to Miri, namely in seats such as Pujut, Pelawan and Repok.

However it is still tough going in seats like Piasau, Dudong and Bawang Assan.

With polling a week away, Ong said it is still too early to make any conclusion on the victory for BN-SUPP as it depends on how much it can withstand the pressure from the DAP.

The campaign for the poll began on April 6 after nominations. The state would see contest in all 71-seats up for grabs.

The DAP kicked off its campaign in Kuching with Miri being the next stop, this weekend.

The “grand finale” is being planned for Sibu just before polling day.

Despite early indication of good ground support, DAP leaders remained cautious in retaining its seat.

“In Kuching, we already have three and we intend to add one more.

“The question now is how many seats can be won and whether it is enough to make an impact on Taib tenure,” said DAP publicity chief Tony Pua, referring to the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud who celebrated his 30th anniversary in office last March 26.

Straights fights
DAP seems to be on track to take home some predominantly Chinese seats outside the major urban centres.
One such seat is Repok where BN-SUPP’s David Teng will defend his seat in a straight fight against DAP’s Dr Wong Hua Seh.

“All this while, our chances have always been spoiled by a third candidate which resulted in us losing marginally.

However, this time, we managed to have straight fights, which is good for our chances,” said a DAP grassroots leader in Sarikei.

Wong, 59, had contested in the 2008 parliamentary election in Sarikei and lost by a mere 51 votes against BN candidate Ding Kuong Hing in the five-way contest.

Checks in other areas however indicated that the opposition based DAP is not having it all easy.

There are other seats which the party was facing an uphill battle.

It would face difficulty in safeguarding seats like Meradong and Kota Sentosa seats.

It would also face a massive hurdle in trying to capture Piasau, Bawang Assan and Dudong.



BN-SUPP seems to be on the right track to regain some lost ground in Meradong where a new face, Ling Sie King, a businessman, is putting pressure on DAP incumbent Ting Tze Fui.

Still early stages
SUPP is proving to be no pushover in this election.

It is more united this time around, says a local party observer, and will receive a boost in its campaign with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin scheduled to visit the constituency on April 11.

“Almost every night, there are 100 dinner tables sponsored by some wealthy individuals or tycoon backing SUPP.

“We find it difficult to organise a dinner event for our campaign,” said a DAP member in Bintangor.

Meanwhile SUPP is expected not to have any problems in bumiputera majority seats like  Simanggang, Engkilili and two other Bidayuh seats.

DAP central committee member Jeff Ooi said they are still facing uphill battles in the bumiputera-majority areas where the party is contesting.

DAP is pitting new face, Leon Jimmy Donald to face incumbent Francis Harden from BN-SUPP in Simanggang.

The strong support for the DAP can be seen from the large crowd attending its ceramah almost everywhere.

However this does not alarm SUPP leaders as they feel that it is still early stages of campaigning and that people turned-up at the talks due to curiosity.

“DAP claims many people have attended their ceramah but most of them who came were SUPP members sent to monitor these opposition organised events,” claimed SUPP Sibu chief  Wong Soon Koh.