DAP is hoping to unseat a Barisan Nasional (BN) veteran by fielding a young woman lawyer for the Pending constituency in the May 20 Sarawak state elections.

Violet Yong Wui Wui, 29 (photo), will take on Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) old-timer and state assistant minister Sim Kheng Hui, 60, in a straight fight.

Some have dubbed it as a battle between the 'young and old'. Pending is a Chinese-majority seat with an electorate of about 30,000 voters.

In the 2001 state elections, Sim polled 11,918 votes in a three-cornered fight against DAP's Voon Lee Shan's (3,437) and Keadilan's Dominique Ng (3,150).

Contacted later, Sim (photo below, centre) declined to comment about his opponent.

"We have been prepared for this. We expected all of Supp's 19 seats to face contest. We are working hard and are confident of winning," he said.

Supporters confident

Although outnumbered at the nomination centre (Kuching South City Council) this morning by BN supporters, Yong's supporters appeared confident of her prospects.

The English and Chinese educated Yong, who is Sarawak DAP's women affairs secretary, received her tertiary education in Australia.

Prior to this, she had worked in Penang and returned to Kuching in 2002. She now works in the same legal firm as Sarawak DAP secretary and Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen.

Yong is one of the three women candidates fielded by DAP in this year's state polls. All of them are below 30.

The youngest women candidate from DAP is Ting Tze Hui, 25. She will contest in a five-cornered fight in Meradong.

The bout will also see another young woman contender, Wong Zee Yeng, 26, from BN.

The third DAP woman candidate is Kung Jin Jin, 27. The UK-trained masters holder will challenge BN incumbent for Repok David Teng, who is also Supp treasurer and state assistant minister.

Map of Sarawak's state seats