Is candidate Sih admitting to corruption?

An oddly worded pledge letter, by a BN candidate, being circulated in Batu Lintang constituency has left the opposition confused.

KUCHING: Batu Lintang PKR candidate See Chee How is baffled by a letter appealing for support which was distributed by his opponent from the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) to voters in the constituency.

In the letter, candidate Sih Hua Tong vows to be “fearless and not to succumb to any pressure from the authorities”.

“I will fight endlessly and tirelessly towards the eradication of all forms of corruption and abuse of power within and outside the government…”

Referring to the letter’s content, See said: “This vow by Sih really intrigues me as such a statement should have come from one of us in the opposition.

“For us in the opposition, we talk about land grabs, the eradication of corruption and abuse of power and we talk of ‘berubah’ or change in Sarawak in order to get rid of the BN system.

“The BN government of which SUPP is part of is riddled with corruption.”

See said that by virtue of his statement, Sih has admitted that there existed corruption and abuse of power in the government.

“I would like to ask Sih who was a political secretary to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud for the last few years, what has he done to fight corruption and abuse of power?

“And what has he to show us of his records in his years as political secretary?

“I challenge him to produce his record within the next few days,” he said, adding that if Sih failed to show proof, it simply meant that he was “bluffing” the voters.

‘Don’t look dow on voters’

See urged Sih and SUPP not to look down on “the wisdom of the voters” in Batu Lintang.

“The voters know whether Sih is practising what he preaches,” See said.

Both See and Sih, who are both new to the constituency, are battling to win the hearts and minds of the more than 25,000 voters, 85% of whom are Chinese.

The third candidate, Soo Lina, who is contesting as an Independent, does not seem to be making any headway.

Nightly ceramah by both PKR and SUPP are attracting large crowds comprising professionals, intellectuals, senior civil servants, teachers and pensioners.

Nevertheless, it appears that PKR has an advantage due to strong support from its ally DAP.

At Wednesday night’s campaign at the IOI commercial centre, some 3,000 people watched Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng mesmerising the audience with his speech while campaigning for Pakatan Rakyat candidates.

See took to the stand and addressed the crowd, some of whom are voters of Batu Lintang constituency.

In the last election, DAP’s Voon Lee Shan won the seat with a 3407-vote majority defeating SUPP-BN and former Kuching mayor Chan Seng Khai. - FMT