By ROBERT KENNETH
Two Pakatan Rakyat aspiring candidates for Mambong parliamentary seat said they are leaving it to their respective party leadership to decide on their candidacy.
DAP aspiring candidate for Mambong constituency Mangan Ngandok said he was ready to contest in the coming general election but not as candidate of PKR, STAR or any other opposition parties.
Mangan said he will stick with DAP and will only carry the party’s symbol if he need to contest in the election.
“If Pakatan Rakyat (PR) decided to give the seat to PKR then they have to find their own candidate. I will only contest if the seat is given to DAP,” said Mangan.
PKR has picked the party’s state vice chairman Peter Ato Mayau, 53, as their candidate to contest in Mambong and he had even submitted his photograph for his poster.
Unfortunate Ato, a Bidayuh engineer from Kampung Sedunuk in Padawan and was working with Sebiro Holdings, was killed in a helicopter crash last Friday in Sungai Lingga, Sebuyau.
He was killed along with a consultant Siti Khuzaimah Annuar and architect Henry Loh.
Mangan said there was already an understanding that only one party candidate from Pakatan Rakyat should contest the seat.
“But until now there is still no decision on which party in PR will contest the seat,” added Mangan.
According to Mangan, DAP has equal good chances to wrest the seat from Barisan Nasional (BN), claiming that DAP will receive 30 solid support from the Chinese voters in the constituency.
He the rest of the voters will come from the split Bidayuh votes as not all Bidayuh voters are supporting BN, especially with the many unresolved issues affecting the community.
State PKR vice chairman and Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How had said PKR will go ahead with its plan to contest in Mambong.
He said Ato’s legacy would be followed through and furthered to ensure victory of Pakatan Rakyat and PKR in Mambong.
Chee How said PKR has actually a number of potential candidates whom it had identified together with Ato before the ill fated helicopter tragedy and one of them was Willie Mongin who stood in Bengoh during the state election but lost to BN’s candidate Dr Jerip Susil.
Mongin who was among those who came first to give his last respect to the late Ato at his house in Jalan Urat Mata, Tabuan Jaya here last Sunday, said he would not want to make any comment with regard to his candidacy at this moment of time.
Prior to the helicopter tragedy Mongin has been assisting Ato during several of his visits to meet the constituents in the upper part of Padawan and Tarat in the Mambong constituency.
“This is still not the right time for me to make any comment on my candidacy. I am still trauma with the demise of my very good friend.
“We had always been together moving in the kawasan (area) and at the same time I need to respect the family,” said Willie when contacted in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
After saying that, Willie said he is leaving it to the party leadership to make the decision.
“Whoever is chosen to contest in Mambong is not a problem to me as long as the person chosen shared our struggle.
“I will wait for the party’s decision. We are well structured party and the leadership knows what to do,” said Willie.
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