Former Sarawak DAP chairman Wong Sing Nang was Lanang’s first MP. He won the seat after defeating SUPP veteran Tieu Sung Seng that year.
The late Tieu, a founder member of Sibu SUPP and a former ISA detainee, is fondly remembered by party colleagues for the sacrifice he made to move from his safe Sibu seat to Lanang.
Tieu was Sibu MP from 1986 to 1990. He also served as deputy mayor of Sibu in the 1980s.
The Lanang seat changed hands in 1995 when SUPP newcomer Tiong Thai King won the seat, defeating Wong in the process.
Thai King, a younger brother of Sibu billionaire and media mogul Tiong Hiew King, went on to hold the Lanang seat for four consecutive terms until 2013.
Among the community in Sibu, the Tiong brothers are known to keep a low profile and shy away from the limelight.
So many were surprised when SUPP chose Thai King to be the party’s standard bearer to contest Lanang for the first time in 1995.
In his four terms as MP, Thai King was known as “the quiet parliamentarian” but the Lanang electorate kept their faith in him because he delivered and made good on his promises.
Of course, it helps a lot in politics when you are blessed with financial clout and plenty of resources, as Thai King is.
Following his defeat to DAP newcomer Alice Lau in GE13, Thai King continued to press on in politics.
He contested the Dudong state seat in the Sarawak state election in 2016 and defeated DAP incumbent Yap Hoi Liong.
Thai King wears many hats in Sibu. Apart from being the state assemblyman for Dudong, he is also the chairman or adviser to several Chinese associations, schools, sports and charity groups. He is also the mayor of Sibu.
Thai King is now a senior leader in UPP, the SUPP breakaway party. The two parties are still embroiled in a tussle on the right to contest Lanang and Sibu.
SUPP is a BN component party while UPP is not. But in the 2016 state polls, some UPP leaders, including Thai King, were given the green light to contest under the BN banner.
Come GE14, UPP is expected to rely heavily on Thai King again to be the Lanang saviour.
On the DAP side, it is still not known whether Alice Lau will be defending her seat. The young MP, a pharmacist by training, has yet to make waves as a politician in her first term.
Meanwhile, two other local opposition parties — State Reform Party (Star) and PBDS Baru (PBDSB) — are also expected to contest in Lanang.
A leader of the Dayak-based PBDSB said recently that the party hopes to take advantage of the SUPP-UPP quarrel and give the 18% Dayak electorate in Lanang an alternative choice.
But for the 72% Chinese-majority seat of 57,143 voters, it is still a choice between DAP and BN.
Lanang is one seat which the BN hopes to win back from the opposition.
For the record, Alice Lau defeated Thai King in GE13 with a majority of 8,630 votes.
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