Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) has identified several new candidates for the coming state election to strengthen the constituencies being allocated to the party, said its president Dr George Chan.

NONE Dr Chan ( right ), who is also the deputy chief minister, said the new faces would bring a "host of new blood" to the party, especially its attempt to wrest back the eight seats lost in the May 2006 state election.

"We will not fail the BN, and plead to the Chinese community to give us another chance because we are going to perform better and face the election stronger and braver than before," he said at the Federation of Kuching and Samarahan Divisions Chinese Associations' 32nd anniversary dinner and Chinese New Year gathering in Kuching last night.

It was also attended by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

In the last state polls, SUPP performed disastrously especially in the mainly urban Chinese areas when it won only 11 out of the 19 seats contested but later gained an additional seat when an independent joined the party.

He said SUPP's elected representatives were actively on the ground to enable the people to realise that it was aware of their needs and requests and would continue to fight for their rights.

"SUPP must not only be effective but also be seen to be effective," he said, adding that the people should not take for granted the government that had supported them.

While the party was quietly fighting for the people, he said, the opposition was shouting loudly outside but claimed credit when the SUPP succeeded in getting the government to respond to the people's requests.

"That is our dilemma," he said, adding that at least the people knew that SUPP had done its job.

Since 2006, he said, SUPP had made many changes, including recruiting 10,000 new members and identifying 300 youth charges, who would be groomed as future party leaders.

Dr Chan said even during the recent Chinese New Year celebration when he went around throughout the state, there were many 20-year-olds, who volunteered to join the party so as to be in its Information Technology unit.

- Bernama