KUCHING: Bintulu Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing is keen to contest the upcoming Sarawak election and confident of winning the Dudong constituency where he grew up, analysts said.
Universiti Malaya Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said Tiong appeared to also eyeing the opportunity to enter the state cabinet and filling the deputy chief minister position.
He said Tiong, who is also the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president, is ready to give up his position as a Special Envoy of the Prime Minister at the federal level if there is a chance to enter the state cabinet.
"In Sarawak (cabinet), he sees the potential and opportunity to become the deputy chief minister, especially if his party can perform better than two other Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) component parties, namely, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP)," he told New Straits Times.
Awang Azman said Tiong has been showing interest to contest in Dudong despite it being a SUPP traditional seat.
He said this is also one of the strategies to increase PDP's seats in Sarawak and to have more power in political bargaining in the future.
"In addition, Tiong is confident of winning as it was learnt that the voters want a new candidate while incumbent Parti Sarawak Bersatu candidate (PSB) Tiong Thai King is likely to defend the seat.
"The incumbent (Tiong Thai King) won the seat as a BN direct candidate using BN's logo in the last state election and this time, he will be using the PSB logo, which is something new – hence, it gives the Bintulu MP a better chance to wrest the seat for GPS," he said.
Awang Azman said Tiong is likely to give way to a new face to contest in his Bintulu seat in the next general election if he is able to win the state polls.
Meanwhile, Professor James Chin from the University of Tasmania's Asia Institute believes that Tiong is serious about contesting in the state polls despite him declining to confirm it.
"In fact, he has been 'looking around' for seats to contest as early as two years ago, including PSB president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh's Bawang Assan seat as soon as Wong left the government (to become opposition)," he said.
Chin said Tiong wanted to stand in the state polls and hoped that he would be offered to be part of the state cabinet.
Besides, he said, the PDP president wants to expand his party – which is currently the smallest in the GPS coalition.
Out of the total 68 GPS seats in Sarawak, PDP has only three state seats, namely, Tasik Biru, Melaun and Marudi.
Tiong has since refused to comment on rumours he would be contesting in Dudong and that he will only announce it when the time comes.
The 12th Sarawak election is set to be held on Dec 18, with nomination on Dec 6 and early voting on Dec 14.