Julau member of parliament Joseph Salang has scoffed at a rumour circulating in Pakan (which, together with the Meluan state constituency, form the Julau seat) that he will be replaced as the Barisan Nasional candidate for the seat in the coming 13th general election.      

"It is common knowledge that my party, the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), president James Jemut Masing has only nominated one name each to defend all its six parliamentary seats.      

"As far as I know, mine is the only name he has submitted to Prime Minister Najib Razak for his consideration to defend Julau, which I have represented for three terms. The rumour is news to me," he said.      

Salang, who is deputy information, communications and culture minister, said this at a meet-the-people session, first at Rh Minggang anak Noel in Sujai in Julau and last night at Rh Dinggai anak Janting in Engkamop Road in Pakan near Sarikei.      

"Anybody can contest in the election but there will only be one candidate to represent the BN. Again the BN top leadership has yet to make the decision," he said.      

Salang reiterated he was ready to contest if he had the blessings from Najib as BN president, from chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud who is the state BN chief, and from Masing.      

"If especially Najib thinks that it is time for a new leader to take over, I am ready to go. But I hope the people will give the support they have been giving me to my successor to ensure continuity in the development programmes and plans for them," he said.      

Meanwhile at Rh Dinggai where the function was jointly organised by Kemas and other government agencies, he called on rural parents to make full use of the Kemas pre-schools and kindergartens to give their children a good head start in their education.      

"We are very lucky in the country as the government is providing this service free. In some countries, pre-schooling can be just as expensive as tertiary education," he said.      

"As parents we can consider ourselves to be successful in life if we can give our children a much better standard of living than our own. This can only be achieved through better education leading to better qualification and better paying jobs," he added.      

- Bernama