Yong is SAPP's candidate in Batu Sapi

As expected, Sabah Progressive Party president (SAPP) Datuk Yong Teck Lee will be the party’s candidate for the November 4 Batu Sapi by-election which is now shaping to be a three-corned contest.

SAPP vice-president Poon Kee Yong said the decision to field the former chief minister was finally agreed upon by party leaders at 2am. SAPP had earlier rejected Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) plea to stay out of the by-election.

“Sabah needs a brave leader. We need someone who can initiate efforts to bring back Sabah’s autonomy and to fight for the state’s rights.

“We need someone who can bring about change,” Poon said when opening SAPP’s Karamunting office in this Sabah east coast district.

This is Yong’s first election outing after being disqualified from contesting in 2001 due to a 1999 election billboards offence. The ban was lifted in 2006.

But the plucky politician sat out of the March 2008 general election when SAPP’s request for the Kota Kinabalu parliament seat held by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) was turned down by Barisan Nasional (BN)

The Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election will be the first contest between SAPP and BN since the party quit the ruling coalition on September 17, 2008.

The 52-year-old Yong was chief minister from 1996 to 1998 under Barisan’s two-year rotation system of the post.

The by-election was called due to the death of Batu Sapi MP Datuk Edmund Chong Ket Wah (PBS) in an accident on October 9.

The constituency that encompasses the Sekong and Karamunting state seats is 1318sq km in size or four-and-a-half times the size of Penang island with some 25,582 voters, including 1,535 postal voters.