Eleven of the 25 contested parliamentary seats in Sarawak are being closely watched as the outcome could go either way while the remaining seats have been described as good as in the ruling coalition's hands.

These seats are the Bidayuh-majority Mas Gading , the predominantly-Chinese Bandar Kuching , the Chinese-majority Stampin , the Melanau-majority Batang Lupar (with sizeable Iban votes), the predominantly-Iban Lubok Antu , the Chinese-majority Sarikei , Lanang , Sibu and Miri , the Iban-majority Hulu Rajang and the Dayak (Orang Ulu/Iban) majority Baram seats.

11 hot seats in sarawak

The Sarawak BN have already bagged five seats uncontested - four on nomination day and the fifth seat two days after nomination closed for the Igan seat. The earlier four seats were Kapit, Kanowit, Selangau and Tanjung Manis.

With no clear-cut issues taking centre stage in the urban campaign, those voters who are still undecided appear to be waiting to hear what the various candidates are going to say during the series of ceramah being organised by the various parties.

chong chieng jen The spotlight in Kuching, the state capital, is on Bandar Kuching where there is straight fight between the incumbent DAP's Chong Chieng Jen ( right ) and BN-Supp's newcomer Alan Sim Yaw Yen.

If it is of any indication, the opposition ceramah appear to be drawing bigger crowds - like the one on Wednesday night in Jalan Song in a commercial centre where about 2,000 turned up to listen compared with a few hundreds who turned at the Supp ceramah the night earlier.

Sarawak is not holding state elections but only parliamentary elections but nevertheless state issues, like corruption, are also raised in their campaign.

Supp's last ditch effort

According to observers, the elections generally appear rather subdued compared with the last state elections in May 2006 when the opposition (DAP and PKR) took most of the urban seats in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Bintangor.

If the pattern of voting follows the same line, this could prove to be fatal for Supp which is probably fighting a last-ditch effort to keep the party alive. Losing three seats in this parliamentary elections could raise more questions on the party's future in Sarawak politics.

The other urban constituency, Stampin , is interesting in that there is a three-cornered fight involving the BN-Supp, DAP and PKR. The seat has been described as grey for the BN, and DAP candidate Voon Lee Shan, who stood and lost to the incumbent Yong Khoon Seng in the last elections in 2004, told Malaysiakini that "I want to turn it into a red area for the BN."

see chee how PKR candidate and lawyer See Chee How ( left ), a first-timer, is undeterred by talk that the fight is more between BN and DAP. He thinks it will be a surprise for everybody, and intends to prove that, even though he is a less familiar face to many voters.

But in recent months See has been very much involved in taking up local issues such as the issue of the closure of St Martin's School for which he blamed Voon for its cause.

Businessman extraordinaire Ting Pek Khiing has come to the side of the BN-Supp by promising to build a Chinese school in Stampin Kuching if the voters support the BN incumbent.

He has also promised to revive the TAR College campus in Bintangor - in the parliamentary constituency of Sarikei - if the voters do the same for the BN-Supp candidate Ding Kuong Hiing, a political secretary to the chief minister.

Ding is involved in a five-cornered fight against DAP's Dr Wong Hua Seh and three Independents Lau Kain Chui, Kung Chin Chin and Ngu Tieng Hai.

The rival factions in Supp appear to have closed ranks and rallied round Ding, but whether the voters will do the same remains to be seen.

law hieng deng The five-term Sarikei MP Law Hieng Ding ( right ), a former federal minister who will not be contesting the seat, won it in the last elections by a whopping majority of 11,599.

There is intense campaigning in Sibu where the two BN-Supp's incumbents Robert Lau Hoi Chew ( Sibu ) and timber tycoon Tiong Thai King ( Lanang ) are working hard to thwart off new attempts by DAP to wrest the seats from them.

Lau, a deputy minister, is said to be in a much stronger position while his colleague Tiong in Lanang may be up against a stronger opponent, especially after the inclusion of some anti-establishment votes in the Kingsway Road area.

wong ho leng State DAP chief Wong Ho Leng ( left ), who is the state assemblyperson for Bukit Assek, is taking on Lau again in Sibu in a three-cornered fight that also involves PKR's Lim Chin Chuan, whom observers say has little chance in a fight between two giants.

Lanang is a straight fight between Tiong, a brother of the Rimbunan Hijau boss Tiong Hiew King, and DAP's David Wong Kee Woan, a repeat performance of their 2004 duel when the former won by a comfortable majority of 4,724 votes. Tiong polled 14,895 votes against Wong's 10,174 votes.

BN-Supp's Peter Chin, the minister of commodities and plantation industries, is said to be facing tougher competition this time in Miri where he is being challenged by DAP's Fong Pau Teck.

This is an interesting area now, after quite a number of bumiputera voters switched to the new constituency of Sibuti , with Chinese now making up 55 percent of the electorate and Iban 28 percent.

Rural votes also split

Baram is again seeing a repeat challenge by Kebing Wan who is now standing as an Independent against the BN-SPDP's incumbent Jacob Sagan. Both are Orang Ulu but Ibans make up nearly 40 percent of the voters and if the 40 odd percent Orang Ulu are split, the Iban votes and the six percent Chinese votes will be decisive.

Kebing is known as an Orang Ulu aristocrat and the family still wields some influence among his community while Jacob, a former agricultural officer, is considered a commoner.

Another interesting seat to watch is Hulu Rajang where there is a straight fight between the BN-PRS incumbent Billy Abit, an Orang Ulu, and an Independent George Lagong, who until recently came from the same party as Billy, except from different factions.

The fight has put a spot on one faction leader Larry Sng, a state assistant minister, who is related to George Lagong, his uncle. The Masing faction who backs Billy from Belaga wants Sng to come out to campaign openly for Billy, and he has been directed to go to Belaga to do so.

Observers are giving George Lagong an odds-on chance of winning while most people say a surprise could be in store if the Balleh voters decide to back the Independent.

In Batang Lupar , the BN-PBB incumbent Rohani Karim, a parliamentary secretary, is being challenged by PAS sole candidate in Sarawak Abang Edi Elyani, an ustaz .

In the last state elections, the BN candidate won by less than 100 votes in Beting Maro, one of the two state constituencies in Batang Lupar.

taib mahmud 01 The chief minister and state BN chief Abdul Taib Mahmud ( left ) said recently there was only one grey area in the 14 seats PBB is contesting and he is believed to be referring to Batang Lupar.

Another interesting fight could be in Lubok Antu where the former Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) president Nicholas Bawin, a NCR land expert, is challenging the BN-PRS' William Nyallau Badak.

Bawin told Malaysiakini so many people from the constituencies had urged him to stand and he could feel the winds of change. But observers say with a large geographical area to cover and lacking the resources could put him at a disadvantage.

dr patau rubis Star president Dr Patau Rubis ( left ), who has shaven his hair again, is taking on BN-SPDP's Dr Tiki Lake in Mas Gading where observers say the former could expect to poll more votes but probably not enough to win, in a four-cornered fight that also involves two Independents.

In the last elections, Patau lost to Tiki by a just over 2,000 votes, but is this time counting on many still undecided voters among both Chinese and Bidayuh to make the difference. He is banking on some disagreement within SPDP over the choice of candidate to stand in Mas Gading.