{
  "id": 17413392,
  "title": "SUPP says Abang Johari will decide on Bawang Assan candidate",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/supp-says-abang-johari-will-decide-on-bawang-assan-candidate",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-31T13:13:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today-freemalays",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/10/31/supp-says-abang-johari-will-decide-on-bawang-assan-candidate"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) has announced that GPS chairman Abang Johari Openg will decide on the candidate for the Bawang Assan seat in Sarawak, according to Dr Sim Kui Hian, the party's president. The GPS coalition partners have agreed to leave the selection of candidates for all 82 state constituencies to Abang Johari, with SUPP stating that \"Who is the chairman of GPS? We leave it to the premier.\" This decision comes after reports that Joshua Ting, a political secretary to Abang Johari, was believed to be the Progressive Democratic Party's candidate for the seat. Bawang Assan has been represented by Wong Soon Koh for seven terms, and Wong now serves as PDP's senior vice-president. Supposedly recent meetings between Wong and PDP president Tiong King Sing and Abang Johari were held to discuss the matter. In July, SUPP had reportedly intended to nominate Kevin Lau, a branch youth leader, as their candidate for the seat. As deputy premier, Sim Kui Hian said he would submit the nomination to Abang Johari.",
  "summary": "Party president Dr Sim Kui Hian says GPS partners had agreed to leave candidate selection to the coalition chairman.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}