KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Stakan branch’s new office at Mile 9, Jalan Penrissen was officially opened yesterday.
The ceremony was graced by Minister of Local Government and Housing, Datuk Seri Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian, who is also the president of SUPP.
SUPP Stakan chairman, Sim Kiang Chiok, said the party wanted to use the new office to better serve the surrounding area which was rapidly developing and had dense population.
“Our primary role is to be of service to our demographics as much as we can in support of our leaders and partners, namely, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Stakan assemblyman Datuk Seri Ali Mahmud, and MP Kota Samarahan Rabiah Wang.
“As the office is facing the Serian-Kuching road we are going to do more advertising for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) with our banner,” he said in his speech.
Sim added that GPS had been supportive of SUPP, so he would continue to serve his party and the coalition in accordance with the will of the people and the wishes of his late father and founder of Stakan branch, Datuk Sim Swee Yong.
SUPP Stakan, he said, was motivated to help everyone by addressing what his party called the 7Cs.
“The 7Cs are: (1) Cost of living, (2) Crime, (3) Corruption, 4) Cronyism and nepotism, (5) Con jobs, or lies and fraud on Internet, (6) Chinese and English education, as well as the recognition for UEC certificate, and (7) Council,” he said.
Sim again said that with the new office, they would be able to implement what he called womb-to-tomb approach to taking care of the welfare of people in the area.
“In Stakan, most of the non-Bumiputeras are business people, so we started our service with an awareness campaign in cooperation with the Kuching-Kota Samarahan Hawkers Association to make them know about micro loans. This year, we will introduce the micro loans approved by the state government last year,” he said.
He pointed out that there had been a migration of voters from Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang, Batu Kawa, Tupong, and even Sibu to Stakan area.
He found that in the past three years, the increase in the number of Chinese residents did not tally with the number of voters as they did not change their voting addresses and still voted in their old places.
“Eventually, there will switch due to the change of addresses in their identity cards. The non-Bumiputera votes will remain at between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of the registered voters in the constituency,” he said.
Besides that, Sim mentioned that in the last general election, the non-Bumiputera areas in Stakan were not very supportive.
Also present at the ceremony was Tourism, Arts and Culture Assistant Minister Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew (who also Piasau assemblyman and acts as Secretary General of SUPP); all members of SUPP branches in and outside of Kuching; members of PBB, Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).
