Sarawak Assistant Minister denies contesting in GE14





MIRI, April 19 (Bernama) -- Senadin state assemblyman Datuk Lee Kim Shin has denied speculations that he will contest as Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Miri parliamentary seat, one of the hot seats in Sarawak, in the 14th General Election (GE14).

Lee, who is Sarawak Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, said at the moment he wanted to fully focus and fullfill his responsibility as the elected representative for Senadin, one of the three state constituencies under Miri parliamentary seat.

"I have no intention to be state assemblyman and, at the same time, be a member of Parliament (MP)," he told reporters after purchasing three set nomination forms for Miri parliamentary seat at Miri City Council (MCC) here today.

Asked whether his stand of not wanting to be both state assemblyman and MP was the party policy or his personal decision, he said that it was his own personal point of view.

Accompanying Lee were Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) secretary-general and Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew, SUPP Publicity & Information secretary and Miri City mayor Adam Yii Siew Sang and SUPP Senadin branch publicity chief Erick Chin Fen Siong.

Lee, who is also the party vice-president and Miri parliamentary seat operation director, hoped that a new face would be BN candidate for the Miri parliamentary seat but would leave it to the party leadership to decide.

"Let a new face be BN candidate this time and hopefully we can add BN seat in the GE14," he said, adding that it was better to have a BN elected representative at parliamentary level to work together developing Miri.

Speculations are rife that Adam Yii Siew Sang will likely to be nominated as BN candidate for Miri parliamentary seat besides Erick Chin.

For the record Miri parliamentary seat was once a BN stronghold but in the 13th General Election (GE13) BN lost for the first time against PKR's Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng.

Presently Miri parliamentary seat, with Senadin, Piasau and Pujut state seats, has a total of 80,386 registered voters.

The GE14 on May 9 will only involve Sarawak's 31 parliamentary seats as the state held its last state election in 2016.

-- BERNAMA