Contrary to speculation which peaked in the last 24 hours, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's name has been included in the final list of Sarawak Barisan Nasional's 28 parliamentary candidates.

Taib ,68, who has held the post of chief minister since 1981, will be defending his 'fort' at Kota Samarahan near Kuching. He is among 21 'old faces' who have been retained to contest for BN again.

The Sarawak BN line-up has little surprises and confirms much of the predictions made by observers within the past week.

Among the new faces, three are from Taib's Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu Sarawak (PBB), one from the Sarawak United People's Party (Supp), one from the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and two from newly-reinstated Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).

At a press conference this afternoon, Taib, who is also state BN chairperson, said the BN will field lawyer Fadillah Yusop ,42, PBB Youth Secretary, as its candidate for Petra Jaya , a seat previously held by former Agriculture Minister Dr Sulaiman Daud.

PBB Senior Vice-president and State Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Adenan Satem,62, will contest in Batang Sadong, replacing incumbent Sukinam Domo who has been dropped but is expected to be appointed to the Senate.

Taib says Adenan is being trained to take over 'a new posting at the federal level' following Effendi Norwawi's decision not to contest.

PBB Information chief and Assistant State Minister Wahab Dolah, 54, will be contesting Kuala Rajang, the seat previously held Effendi.

PBB's Rohani Karim, who is a parliamentary secretary, and Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar have now swapped seats and will be contesting Batang Lupar and Santubong respectively.

Dagang for Kanowit

Supp's only new face is former senator Wee Kok Tiong, 42, eldest son of the late Wee Boon Ping, a well-known Chinese Malaysian businessman from Sarawak. He will be contesting in Bandar Kuching , and is expected to face a strong challenge from Sarawak DAP Secretary Chong Chieng Jen and possibly Keadilan's Dominique Ng Kim Ho, a lawyer who is likely to stand on an independent ticket.

SPDP's Jelaing Mersat, political secretary to the chief minister, is another new face and has been selected to stand in Saratok, a seat previously held by a former federal deputy minister and SPDP founder leader Peter Tinggom.

PBDS, which yesterday had its political party status reinstated after de-registration two months ago, is fielding two new faces while retaining four others.

The new faces are assistant minister and former PBDS Youth leader Joseph Entulu who will be standing in Selangau replacing incumbent Joseph Mauh, and Aaron Dagang, 48, political secretary to Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie,who has decided not to defend his Kanowit seat.

Meanwhile, former PBDS leader Sng Chee Hua ( photo ), who had earlier announced that he will contest against PBDS's Joseph Salang for the Julau parliamentary seat 'under whatever circumstances,' has changed his mind and withdrawn from contesting.

Instead, he requests voters to support all BN candidates, including Salang, who has been retained as the PBDS-BN candidate for Julau.