During the 14th general election (GE14), thousands of Democratic Action Party (DAP) supporters gathered at Saradise, BDC in Kuching. It was the peak night because at 11.40pm, the election campaign would come to an end.
The road to Saradise was crowded with the supporters and it was difficult for my car and some of my friends’ cars to pass through. It was different from the situation in Satok, where people didn’t even care about the Barisan Nasional (BN) last minute campaigning.
It was very clear at that time that Chong Chieng Jen would win. He would defeat his opponent, Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian in the Stampin constituency based on the presence of thousands of people present and cheering for him at Saradise.
Indeed, the next day, Chong polled 33,060 votes, defeating Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) chairman Dr Sim who only obtained 18,839 votes. A total of 52,550 voters in the constituency fulfilled their democratic responsibilities, which saw the turnout rate reached 79.33 per cent.
In his campaign, Chong insisted, that his decision to move to Stampin from Bandar Kuching was to end Dr Sim’s political career and BN’s arrogance.
The truth is, he tried to hide DAP’s own weaknesses. In 2013, DAP won the Stampin seat for the first time through Julian Tan Kok Ping. Julian obtained 41,663 votes to emerge as the giant killer defeating former Deputy Minister of Public Works, Datuk Yong Khoon Seng, who only managed 22,993 votes.
But after that, Julian seemed to have lost his way. Despite playing an efficient role as the opposition, he did not seem to know how to be a member of parliament (MP). He failed to go down to the ground and was only busy with trivial issues. Fearing that the constituency would be re-taken by BN and with Dr Sim as the candidate, Chong named himself as a “heavyweight” opponent to Dr Sim. And the gamble paid off.
For the record, the demographics of this seat saw that the electorate was 65 per cent Chinese, followed by non-Bumiputera voters – 18 per cent, Muslims 16 per cent and others one per cent.
The Stampin parliamentary constituency comprises of the Batu Kawa state constituency which is dominated by SUPP (Dr Sim won in the 2021 state election), Kota Sentosa which is also held by SUPP (Wilfred Yap) and Batu Lintang constituency currently held by Independent See Chee How.
An analysis of the voting trend and situation would appear that Chong’s position is actually in danger if he wants to retain the seat.
This is because all the state constituencies in the parliamentary area are no longer in favour of the opposition. Even Kota Sentosa, which was once a DAP stronghold, has also been wrested by the SUPP.
This is caused by Chong’s own failure to go to the ground and perform effective service to the voters in the Kota Sentosa constituency when he was its representative. The people are disappointed because Chong holds two roles – MP and assemblyman and is only seen when it is close to election time. No effective programme was organised, except to complain, complain and complain, while from 2018 to 2020, DAP was part of the Federal government.
It is true that the 22-month period is a torture for the people, who only swallow promises, while no effective development programmes were implemented for the people. Tired and feeling cheated, the people of Kota Sentosa rejected DAP in the last Sarawak state election, thus sending a signal that the Rocket party is no longer needed.
This time, Stampin parliamentary constituency has 120,334 registered voters, and this is a new challenge for Chong.
The people are no longer easily swayed by rhetorics as happened in 2018. He needs other strategies and tactics if he wants to pull through.
The focus now is of course on who will challenge Chong. With his position as Deputy Premier, Dr Sim may not be fielded as the candidate.
Many residents in this area actually hope that the chairman of Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) who is also Batu Kitang assemblyman, Lo Khere Chiang, will be the candidate.
Lo, an engineer, is friendly and approachable. As a politician, he is not arrogant and is willing to wear Malay’s and Iban’s attire when visiting the local community. He is soft spoken, thus making him as a figure of compromise for all races.
A political secretary to the Premier, Tan Kai is also tipped to be SUPP’s candidate for the constituency. Tan Kai is said to have been nominated by the Batu Kawa branch led by Dr Sim himself. It is noted that Tan Kai has been in the party for a long time and was once SUPP Youth chief.
He became a candidate for Bandar Kuching parliamentary in 2013, and obtained 10,491 votes, losing to Chong who polled 30,133 votes.
Therefore, if Tan Kai is named as a candidate, then the two will be competing against each other once again. It’s just that the arena is different, and this time, Chong is no longer a wild and wounded lion, but instead has to heal his wounds due to the failure of PH’s 22-month administration.
