I endorse the advice by the PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail yesterday that the independent candidate for Padungan, Dominque Ng Kim Ho, should withdraw from contesting in the April 16 state election.
Ng Kim Ho should take Azizah’s advice and withdraw from the Sarawak state general election so as not to spoil Pakatan Rakyat and DAP candidate Wong King Wei’s chances of winning the Padungan constituency next Saturday.
Under the election law, Ng can withdraw as a candidate before midnight.
The battle in Padungan as well as in Sarawak is between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.
With Ng in the three-cornered contest in Padungan, there is a possibility that the SUPP/BN candidate Sim Kiang Chiok may win on split votes.
As the battle in Padungan is between Wong and Sim, and there is no possibility whatsoever of Ng winning, Ng should give top priority to the interests of the people of Sarawak and Malaysia who want to see the institutionalisation of the two-coalition system in the electoral politics of Sarawak and Malaysia instead of creating a situation where SUPP/BN may win Padungan on a minority vote.
The most important single issue in the Sarawak state general election is not on other individuals or personalities but to send a clear, unmistakable and united message that “enough is enough” for 30 years of Taib Mahmud as Sarawak Chief Minister and he must step down as Chief Minister immediately after April 16 and not at an indefinite period of his choice, whether two, three or five years later.
(Media Conference Statement in Bintulu on Saturday, 9th April 2011 at 12 noon)