Late James Masing's nephew pledges to continue development agenda in Baleh

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUCHING, Dec 4 -- Nicholas Kudi Jantai Masing, a nephew of former Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing, has promised to preserve the legacy of his late uncle by continuing with the development in Baleh if given the mandate in the Sarawak state election.

“Among the major issues in the interior of Baleh is infrastructure development to improve the people’s standard of living and bring this place on par with major towns,” said Nicholas Kudi, 36, who will be defending the Baleh seat for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).

“Economic issues in the rural area will also be our main agenda; how we can build a future for the young people of Baleh,” said Nicholas Kudi, one of 24 new faces unveiled by GPS for the 12th Sarawak state election.

James Masing was the state assemblyman for Baleh for 38 years before he died on Oct 31 this year when he was a deputy chief minister. Baleh is located on Sarawak’s border with Kalimantan.

Nicholas Kudi said he was confident of retaining the seat for GPS as the coalition had a strong and stable party machinery capable of offering the best candidates to voters.

"We want to give inspiration to the youth in this state who want a stable political party to lead the state,” he added.

Yesterday, GPS chairman Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said 24 fresh faces would be among the 82 candidates to be fielded by GPS in the state polls.

In the last state election in 2016, James Masing retained the Baleh seat by polling 5,272 votes to beat DAP’s Agop Linsong, who obtained only 479 votes.

Nomination for the state polls is on Monday while early voting was set for Dec 14 and polling on Dec 18.

-- BERNAMA