Sim, the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president, was the first to arrive at the nomination centre at 7.45am today.

The Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) candidate’s biggest challenger is DAP’s Dr Kelvin Yii, who is also the Bandar Kuching MP.

Yii had arrived at the nomination centre at the Padawan municipal council with his proposer and seconder at 8.20am.

The pair will also face Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s Chai Kueh Khun and Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak’s Fong Pau Teck.

Batu Kawah returning officer Ita Ling confirmed that the nominations of all four candidates had been accepted.

Sim told the media the people of Batu Kawah will be able to judge him based on his track record over the past five years, while congratulating the other candidates for their nominations.

He hoped for a fair and clean campaign over the next 12 days, and asked Batu Kawah voters to allow him to be their assemblyman for another five years.

Meanwhile, Yii said he aims to enhance the lives of Sarawakians and not just the state itself, hoping that Batu Kawah voters would give him a chance as a young contestant.

“My focus is on helping the people of Batu Kawah. I’m not against development, but it must directly benefit the ordinary people in the area.

“I hope we will have a healthy and progressive political competition over the next two weeks,” he said.

In keeping with the Election Commission’s SOPs, none of the candidates held any marches or gatherings as they entered the nomination centre.

In 2016, Sim won the Batu Kawah seat with a 2,085 majority, when SUPP was still under Barisan Nasional.