KUCHING: The Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) will field a social activist who is also a businessman, Sim Min Leong, for the Mas Gading parliamentary seat in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15).
“Being a person of a humble beginning whose mother is a native, he understood the problems faced by the natives in Mas Gading,” said the party president, Voon Lee Shan, in a statement today.
According to him, Sim’s record of assisting numerous people in overcoming their financial issues during hard times during the previous ten years led to his selection as the candidate.
“Many residents of Mas Gading sought his help during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet their food and financial needs.
“He even used his own funds to assist in the repair of a severely dilapidated bridge in a village.
“The majority of residents of Mas Gading, particularly the natives, are very poor and that the government has failed to raise their standard of living over the past 60 years,” he said, adding relevant agencies also neglected the request to fix the bridge.
Also present was the PBK candidate for the Lanang parliamentary seat, who is also PBK general secretary, Priscilla Lau.
For the record, Mordi Bimol of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) currently holds the seat of Mas Gading. He defeated Datuk Anthony Nogeh Gumbek of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) in a straight-fight during the 2018 General Election with a 3,024-vote majority.
Out of the three Bidayuh parliamentary seats, Mas Gading is the only one that does not belong to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
The other two are held by Datuk Willie Mongin of the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) in Puncak Borneo and Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem of the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) in Serian.