With 48 hours to nomination, Barisan Nasional (BN) has set tongues wagging when it unveiled today all except the candidate for the Bario highlands constituency of Ba'Kelalan in the April 16 state election.     

Ba'Kelalan is reportedly eyed by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) state chief  Baru Bian who contested unsuccessfully for the seat twice, losing the last time by a narrow 475 votes in 2006.     

The remote Orang Ulu-dominated area has the smallest number of 6,958 voters of the 71 constituencies to be contested, and it has been in the BN fold since it was made a constituency in 1996.     

The late Judson Sakai Tagal of Sarawak National Party (Snap) won Ba'Kelalan uncontested for the BN in 1996 and 2001. After Snap was deregistered in 2002, he helped set up Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) in 2003 but died in a helicopter crash in 2004.     

Nelson Balang Rining, under the SPDP banner, retained Ba'Kelalan in the ensuing by-election and again in 2006, both times beating Baru Bian, who was an independent in 2004 and a candidate for the revived Snap in 2006.     

SPDP remains one of the four component parties of the state BN and it has been given eight seats to contest this time round, including Ba'Kelalan.     

"We want to keep you guessing, we will find the right candidate so that people can vote for him," said Adenan Satem, chief information officer of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the biggest component party in Sarawak BN, and special adviser to chief minister and state BN leader Abdul Taib Mahmud.     

Whether this has rattled PKR's game plan will be known tomorrow when PKR is expected to announce its candidates.      

The BN, which captured 63 seats in 2006, maintained the status quo with PBB contesting 35 seats, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) running in 19, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) nine and SPDP, eight.     

Taib made good on his promise to inject new blood as 18 new faces, barring Ba'Kelalan, were named, mostly professionals in their 40s.      

Among the debutantes are well-known cardiologist Dr Sim Kui Hian who will contest in Pending and another medical specialist, Serdang Hospital cardiologist Dr Annuar Rapee, who will stand in Nangka.       

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the BN chairman, who met Taib two days ago in Putrajaya, had said the candidates were the best picked to represent the multi-ethnic coalition.     

The DAP named 10 more candidates today to complete its slate of 15 contenders that includes seven first timers.       

With Snap naming 27 candidates yesterday, PKR and PAS are the only opposition parties yet to reveal their runners.     

It is left to be seen if Snap will field more candidates on Wednesday.    

BN women incumbents stay

Meanwhile BN is retaining all its four women candidates for the forthcoming April 16 state election, including Lingga's incumbent Simoi Peri.      

The other three are Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali (Samariang), Fatimah Abdullah (Dalat), from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and Rosey Yunus (Bekenu) of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).     

Earlier this week, 47-year-old Simoi who is also PBB Supreme Council member had announced her intention not to seek re-election.      

"Initially, I had wanted to quit in order to give chance for a new face to contest in the area. But I want to thank the chief minister and the people in Lingga for their confidence in me. They said they wanted me to stay to continue  the development programmes that have been initiated," she told Bernama.     

Simoi, who completed her first term as state assemblywoman and expressed surprise over the decision, said she would continue to do her best to serve the constituents.     

Meanwhile, Fatimah, minister in the Chief Minister's Department who won uncontested in the 2006 state election, said that she was ready for any challenge in Dalat.      

"We always pray for victory. All the BN candidates have the same aspiration, that is to bring about a resounding victory for the BN. This is a big commitment for us," she told reporters after the names of the BN candidates were announced at PBB's headquarters here today.     

SUPP’s new faces

Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) is meanwhile banking on its batch of new faces which includes several professionals to help wrest back seats it lost to the opposition in the last state election.     

SUPP president and Deputy Chief Minister George Chan said the seven newcomers among its 19 candidates stood a good chance of winning the upcoming state election on April 16.       

Chan said the fielding of the batch of doctors, lawyers and entreprenuers was also in line with the party's transformation and revival plans.      

"The prime minister wants winnable candidates, so we chose winnable candidates after intensive discussions with the chief minister and the PM," he told reporters after the BN list was unveiled at the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) headquarters in Jalan Bako, here today.     

PBB, SUPP, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) form the state BN.      

 "We already said that we want to transform, so this is one of the ways we do it. We want to groom more young people to take over from us," added Chan.      

The new faces are engineer Sim Kiang Chiok  who will be contesting Padungan, cardiologist Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian (Pending), consultant Sih Hua Tong (Batu Lintang), journalist-turned-businessman Ling Kie King (Meradong), architect Chieng Buong Toon (Bukit Assek) and lawyer Henry Ling (Kidurong).     

Another candidate is business tycoon and Lanang MP Tiong Thai King, who will take up the challenge for SUPP in Dudong.      

Former Batu Kawah state assemblyman Alfred Yap is making a comeback but will stand in Kota Sentosa.     

Chan will be defending the Piasau seat in his Miri hometown.     

SUPP retained incumbents Ranum Mina (Opar), Tan Joo Phoi (Batu Kawah), Jerip Susil (Bengoh), Francis Harden Hollis (Simanggang), David Teng (Repok), Wong Soon Koh (Bawang Assan), Johnichal Rayong (Engkilili), Vincent Goh Chung Siong (Pelawan), Andy Chia Chu Fatt (Pujut) and Lee Kim Shin (Senadin).     

SUPP suffered a big setback in the 2006 state election when it won only 12 of 19 seats it contested.      

- Bernama