The Chinese community here is responding positively to the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the current Sibu parliamentary by-election campaign, said former MCA president Ong Tee Keat.

NONE Although having joined the campaign trail only yesterday, Ong ( right ) said he sensed this after making several walkabouts in Chinese areas in Sibu.

"From the response that we got, it gives us some indications as to who are with us (BN) and who are not.

"But it is still too early to make any conclusions," he told a news conference after a holding a dialogue session with associations of lorry owners, commercial bus operators and taxi drivers in Sibu today.

He added that there was still a lot of things that the BN needed to do during the campaign period in order to garner more support from the Chinese, who form 66.7 per cent of the electorate in Sibu.

"Although we may already know where the 'white' and 'grey' areas are, we still have several more days to go to convince the people to vote for the BN candidate and to counter the opposition's allegations," he added.

NONE On the dialogue session, Ong, who is also transport minister, said it was an ongoing initiative by his ministry to listen to problems faced by the grassroots and in the case of Sibu, had been carried out by his then deputy and member of parliament for Sibu, the late Robert Lau Hoi Chew.

"It is not being done just because Sibu is having a by-election. We have always been sensitive to the people's need all this while and are always prepared to listen to their problems and will try our best to resolve them," he added.

During the dialogue, representatives of the associations involved raised several requests and voiced out problems they were facing in carrying out their operations.

NONE Yesterday, Ong held a dialogue session with Sibu's maritime business community.

The by-election, polling of which is Sunday, is being called following the death of Lau on April 9.

he BN's candidate is Robert Lau Hui Yew, more popularly known as Robert Lau Junior. He is up against the DAP's Wong Ho Leng and an independent candidate, Narawi Haron, in the contest.

- Bernama