Sarawak's longest-serving chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud seems to have a hand in the state BN's newly unveiled list of candidates for the upcoming 14th general election.

Taib served 33 years as the chief minister from 1981 to 2014 and is currently the Sarawak governor.

Taib's youngest daughter, Hanifah Hajar Taib, 45, was named as the candidate for Mukah, replacing Leo Muhammad Toyad.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, political analyst James Chin opined that Taib was still influential.

"From the list, it is clear that Taib is still influential. He can parachute his daughter despite strong internal opposition," said Chin.

He also said that despite the state BN pledge to field new faces, several of those named were already members of the state assembly.

"On paper, BN claims to field new faces but they are not. Several of them are already state assemblypersons,” he said.

Chin, who is currently the director of University of Tasmania's Asia Institute, pointed out that it was very interesting for Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) to showcase their bigwigs in the general election.

"The party's number one and two and women's wing chief are all standing for the parliament seats. For the top two posts, it might be seen as greedy since they are state asemblypersons already.

"For Kho Teck Wan (SUPP's Bandar Kuching candidate), party members are telling me that she is a sacrificial lamb since Bandar Kuching is a 'sure lose' seat.

“It is strange she is willing to destroy her political career before it starts," Chin said.

Incumbent DAP Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen who is also Pakatan Harapan Sarawak chairperson, won the seat in the last election with a 19,642 majority against SUPP's youth chief Tan Kai.

For this election, Dr Kelvin Yii, Chong's special assistant was announced as the Harapan candidate for Bandar Kuching against SUPP's Kho Teck Wan.

The three-term Chong (below, left) will be heading to the Stampin constituency instead to face SUPP's president Dr Sim Kui Hian (below, right).

Both are currently state assemblypersons under the same parliamentary seat namely Kota Sentosa (Chong) and Batu Kawa (Sim).

SUPP won Batu Kawa and Batu Kitang in the previous Sarawak state elections held in 2016.

Miri to fall to BN?

"Most probably she (Kho) is being manipulated by Kuching SUPP politics. Another reason why SUPP list is interesting is that UPP is being given one of SUPP seats,” said Chin further.

"Not bad for a party that was shamed in public by Abang Johari who forced UPP to sign a peace-making MOU with SUPP," he added.

UPP has agreed to contest under SUPP's banner in Sibu fielding UPP president Wong Soon Koh's son, Andrew Wong.

The current Repok assemblyperson Huang Tiong Sii contested as a BN direct candidate in 2016 but has since joined SUPP. He will be running as its candidate for Sarikei.

The Asia Institute director also noted that SUPP secretary-general Sebastian Ting's candidature was not surprising in Miri as Ting won the Piasau state seat in 2016 after defeating DAP's Alan Ling by a 2,112 majority.

"Sebastian Ting's candidature was not surprising since he is the most winnable candidate for SUPP. If I am not wrong, he has shaken the hands of the entire Miri population and I am not joking," said Chin.

The academic predicts that SUPP may win Miri if PKR retains incumbent Dr Michael Teo as its candidate.

Teo won the Miri parliamentary seat by a 1,992 majority in a three-cornered fight against Ting and State Reform Party (Star) Sarawak Chong Kon Fatt.

Teo is expected to defend his seat and this will be the second time for both candidates to contest Miri.

"Unless something extraordinary happens during campaigning, I expect the status quo but with DAP majorities down across the board. In Sarawak and Sabah, we can usually predict the results by the last two days of the campaign," concluded Chin.