SARAWAK United People’s Party (SUPP) deputy president Richard Riot Jaem said Barisan Nasional’s policy of fielding direct candidates in the 14th general election is a failure.

“BN plays a team game. If you don’t belong to a team, you don’t belong to BN.

“The ‘direct candidate’ concept defeats the BN spirit of team game, and this is why I say BN must do away with that failed concept,” Riot said in his address at the opening of the party’s triennial delegates conference in Kuching today.

Under the policy, BN will pick a candidate from a component party, or one without a party, if it cannot find a strong enough candidate to field, to contest an allocated seat.

The BN Supreme Council decides on the candidate, thus the term “direct candidate”.

Riot, who is also Serian MP and SUPP’s sole lawmaker, said getting rid of the policy prior to GE14 would resolve “once and for all” the issue involving the party’s rights to the seven seats it is traditionally allocated.

In the 2013 general election, SUPP lost six of the seven seats – five to DAP and one to PKR.

All six seats are urban Chinese-majority seats.

The party won only Riot’s rural, predominantly Dayak seat.

The poor showing has led to fears that BN could field direct candidates from among breakaway members who are now in the pro-BN United People’s Party (UPP), led by former SUPP secretary-general Wong Soon Koh.

Riot said although he agreed that the candidates chosen to contest the seven seats must be winnable, if they were not from SUPP, they must first be inducted as members – a proposition that is certainly not agreeable with direct candidates from UPP.

He said until today, “we have at least one winner from the last state election (last year) who is still party-less, therefore, directionless, and unable to claim loyalty to any game (party)”.

His address drew strong support from the delegates in his division, with one telling him: “That’s what we want you to say. You are a true leader.”

Riot is not facing any challenge to his deputy president’s post, as the top five party posts will see no contests.

President Dr Sim Kui Hian announced yesterday that the five posts did not receive the required five nominations for an election to be held. – December 22, 2017.