Battle Royale In Pending?

By Caroline Jackson

KUCHING, March 31 (Bernama) -- While the Sarawak United People's Party and the DAP are certain to do battle in the predominantly Chinese urban state constituencies, the fight is expected to be most intense in Pending.

A battle royale is widely anticipated as the Barisan Nasional goes all out to wrest Pending back from the DAP with a candidate whom the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak endorsed well before the nomination set for April 6.

Cardiologist Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian meets the criteria that Najib set that a candidate should be respected and liked and must have a good chance of winning.

The early confirmation of his candidacy showed how much confidence the government has in him to woo the Chinese voters, who account for 90 per cent of Pending's electorate of 29,488.

Dr Sim, who is president of the National Heart Association of Malaysia, resigned as head of the Department of Cardiology and the Clinical Research Centre of the Sarawak General Hospital in Kota Samarahan recently to contest the April 16 election.

His supporters understand that he decided to resign while at the top of his profession because politics would allow him a wider scope to serve the people, especially the Chinese community, and the country.

As the son of the late Datuk Amar Sim Kheng Hong, a former deputy chief minister, politics is in his blood. He is also related to SUPP secretary-general Datuk Sim Kheng Hiu, who was defeated by Pending incumbent Violet Yong in the last state election.

Serdang Hospital consultant Dr Annuar Rapaee refers to Dr Sim as "my former boss" and remembers how he treated all who worked with him as friends and was always willing to share knowledge, particularly in his field of specialisation.

He said that it would be a waste of leadership talent for the 47-year-old Dr Sim to confine himself to treating heart patients.

Dr Annuar, who had assisted Dr Sim at the cardiology department while a lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in Kota Samarahan from 2002 to 2010, said his mentor was well-known internationally.

He believed that Dr Sim, a fellow of at least 10 medical institutions world-wide, was responsible for the American College of Cardiology making Malaysia its first chapter.

Kapitan Bong Kim Chiew noted that Dr Sim, a graduate of Monash University in Melbourne, returned to Malaysia in 1998 in response to a government call for him to come back and help overcome the shortage of specialists.

He said Dr Sim sacrificed a lot in terms of job and financial security because he really wanted to help the community.

"His late father had done a good job. The son sould be allowed to continue the good work," Bong told Bernama.

"With his ability and good intentions, he (Dr Sim) is the right man, in the right place, at the right time," he said, adding that the opposition had not done much for the Pending constituents in the past five years.

Dr Sim had recently expressed the hope that he could continue as a visiting doctor at the Sarawak General Hospital Heart Centre.

He has at the same time stressed that he wished to "serve people beyond the hospital".

"As a politician, I think I can be more effective," he said.

Pending is one of the six state seats that SUPP lost to the DAP in the May 2006 state election.

In Dr Sim, SUPP sees its best chance of reclaiming Pending.