KUCHING, 19 Dec: Contesting in another State Assembly constituency in the just-concluded 12th Sarawak State Election did not pose much of a problem for state opposition mainstay, Chong Chieng Jen, after the chairman of the Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) was elected as its representative yesterday.
Chong won with a majority of 1,198 votes after garnering 4,686 votes and beating Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) candidate, Dato Wee Hong Seng, who received 3,488 votes.
in the four-corner fight, Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s candidate, Raymond Thong, and ASPIRASI’s president, Lina Soo, collected a total of 930 and 193 votes respectively.
The announcement of the result for the constituency was made at the Kuching South City Council (MBKS) Auditorium by the Returning Officer, Theresa Korina Peter Legi.
Chong, who was met by reporters after the announcement, said he hoped to work with the greatest sincerity with Wee, who is the Mayor of MBKS, and accepted the defeat of the DAP by GPS with respect to the overall results of the election.
“We respect the decision of Sarawakians and we will do our post-mortem to understand the needs of the people in Padungan,” said Chong.
Chong before this served as the State Assemblyman of the Kota Sentosa constituency for three terms, and with the win at Padungan, he has officially replaced his protege, Wong King Wei, who resigned from the DAP in July 2020 and did not contest in yesterday’s election.
Wong explained his parting ways with the party by saying that they were “not sharing the same ideals anymore”.
In the 11th Sarawak State Election in 2016, Wong won the seat in a three-cornered fight against the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Pau Kiu Sung and the State Reformed Party (STAR but now known as Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak or Aspirasi) candidate then, Teo Kuang Kim.
Chong will be one of the opposition voices in the State Assembly together with fellow DAP member and Pending incumbent, Violet Yong, who successfully defended her seat in a tough five-cornered fight, with a majority of 540 votes.
Four other representatives of the people that will be sitting in the opposition corner in the State Assembly are from Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), namely its 79-year-old president, Dato’ Sri Wong Soon Koh, who retained his Bawang Assan constituency, its vice-president and youth chief, Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa (N.33 Engkilili) and two honourable members of its presidential council, Baru Bian (N.81 Ba’Kelalan) and See Chee How (N.11 Batu Lintang). – TVS
