The wait continues on who will be the BN candidate for the Ba'kelalan seat in the Sarawak state election.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud when asked about this today declined to comment.

Taib, who is also Sarawak BN chairperson, said the BN would name its candidate after PKR had announced theirs.

"I want to see who is the candidate from PKR first," he told reporters after a walkabout at Pasar Baru Balingian near Mukah.

NONE Meanwhile, PKR when announcing its candidates list also today, named Sarawak PKR chairperson Baru Bian as the candidate for Ba'kelalan.

Baru Bian (right) has contested the seat twice and lost narrowly by just 475 votes in the 2006 election.  

The BN candidate for Ba'kelalan was not announced when its list of candidates for the election was released yesterday.

Asked about speculation that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Idris Jala was the "mystery candidate", Taib declined to comment.

"Sometimes, I don't know many things," he said.

However, he said he was confident the BN would retain the seat as the people were well aware of the coalition's track record.

The incumbent Nelson Balan Rining, who is Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) secretary-general, was dropped from the BN candidates list.

Nomination is on Wednesday and polling on April 16.

Plan to topple BN

Meanwhile, Taib also said today that the opposition wanted him out early to topple the state BN.

bn supreme council mt meeting sapp sabah issue 190608 taib mahmud "But, even after I step down (in two or three years), the opposition will still not be able to topple Sarawak BN," he added during a walkabout at Kampung Tellian Tengah, Mukah.

Taib (right) said the leadership change would be orderly and done without waiting for him to become feeble.

He wanted a smooth transition without any quarrel among his potential successors.

Taib said that his successor would continue the development of the state and fulfil all promises he made as chief minister after he withdrew from the scene.

"This is because the BN government practices the politics of continuity for development to go on uninterrupted for the wellbeing of the people," he added.

Taib, who was accompanied by his wife Ragad Waleed Taib, earlier  mingled with the people at Pekan Baru Balingian, about 50km from Mukah, and approved an allocation of over RM2.5 million for various projects in Balingian and Mukah.

He visited Kampung Penakub Permai here before returning to Kuching.

- Bernama

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