Meradong, a state constituency in the lower Rajang Basin in Bintangor, is expected to be in the limelight again in the coming state elections.

In the 2006 state election, Meradong , which is famous for the Bintangor orange and is the hometown of once prominent businessman Ting Pek Khing, saw a five-corner contest, creating a record as the most contested seat.

While it remains to be seen, Meradong has always been a hot seat since 1996, with victories changing hands from one party to another and even an Independent candidate.

It is for this reason the constituency earned its reputation as the “land of the unpredictable”.

In the 1996 election, incumbent Thomas Hii King Hiong of the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) was unseated by independent candidate Yii Chu Lik.

In 2001, SUPP fielded prominent businessman Ting Check Sii, who once controlled the Sanyan Group, a leading state conglomerate, and successfully wrested back the seat for the BN.

However, in the last state election in 2006, Ting was not renominated and instead SUPP fielded a newcomer, Wong Zee Yeng, then 24, who was also BN's youngest candidate in the five-corner fight.

NONE Refusing to be left out, the DAP, which won the seat, fielded a young lass Ting Tze Fui ( right ), then 25, leading to the contest to be dubbed as the "battle of the young roses".

The other three contestants were Independents Junat Jawek, Frederick Wong and David Tiong Chiong Chu. Wong and Tiong, who is also a former state sssemblyperson, were once SUPP strongmen in the area.

And now, speculation is rife that Meradong will see an even bigger battle in the coming April 16 poll with up to ten persons contesting the seat.

SUPP in a dilemma

The DAP is set to retain Tze Fui to defend the seat but its opposition pact colleague PKR has also indicated interest to be in the race.

SUPP, a component of the BN, is in a dilemma in Meradong. Led by its deputy president Law Hieng Ding, the party is still plagued by internal bickering.

The Meradong SUPP branch was suspended for two years and the suspension was only lifted early last month, but bad blood still remains in the party branch.

Such bickering may lead to some local SUPP leaders to going it on their own if they are not picked as the party's candidate for the seat in the coming election, which will be a repeat of what happened at the last state polls.

SUPP secretary-general Sim Kheng Hui, when contacted, declined to reveal the party's choice of candidate, saying that five names were being considered for the seat and that a decision would be taken in two or three days time.

Party insiders said the five are SUPP Bintangor branch Youth chief Ting Sing Chuon, former Meradong assemblyperson (1983-1996) Thomas Hii King Hiong, businessman Ling Kie King, senior executive Peter Ling Kwong Hung and a political unknown, Felician Teo.

Sing Chuon, a United States-trained civil engineer, is SUPP Youth central treasurer. He is a nephew of Check Sii.

Kie King, 52, a former journalist with a local newspaper and now a Miri-based businessman and Miri Foochow Association chairman, hails from Bintangor while Kwong Hung is vice-chairman of the Meradong-Julau District Council.

Teo, a law graduate and former principal of Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU) Sibu campus, is the son of former one-term Meradong assemblyman Anthony Teo.

- Bernama