Malaysian Insider
KUCHING, April 26 — Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Sibu parliamentary by-election will be officially named tomorrow, Sarawak Chief Minister and state BN chairman Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said today.
He said he would meet with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to receive the letter of appointment of the BN candidate for the by-election.
“I think it not a secret any more who the BN candidate for the Sibu by-election is but I have to wait for the approval from the prime minister, who is the BN chairman,” he said after receiving RM1,516,438 in “zakat” (tithe) from Bank Rakyat at his office at Wisma Bapa Malaysia, here, from Bank Rakyat Commercial Banking general manager Yusuf Abdul Rahman.
Yesterday, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president Tan Sri Dr George Chan announced that the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC) had unanimously picked lawyer Robert Lau Hui Yew as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the by-election.
Hui Yew, 45, fondly known as Robert Lau Junior, is the second cousin of the late five-term Sibu MP Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew.
It was widely speculated that he would be picked as the BN candidate due to his active participation in party work and his friendly approach, especially in dealing with hawkers’ problems in Sibu town.
Hui Yew, who has been an SUPP member for 17 years, is assistant treasurer of the party’s Sibu branch.
The Sibu parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of Hoi Chew, who was federal deputy transport minister, on April 9.
The Election Commission (EC) has set May 8 for nomination and May 16 for polling.
On BN candidate P. Kamalanathan’s victory in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election in Selangor yesterday, Abdul Taib said the win would serve as a boost for the Sarawak BN in facing the Sibu by-election.
“It (the victory) shows that the BN has regained the people’s trust and this will bring a positive impact for us,” he said.
Kamalanathan polled 24,997 votes to beat Datuk Zaid Ibrahim of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) by a majority of 1,725 votes and recapture the seat for the BN. — Bernama