Tiong, who set a record of sort in recent years here by being elected a Member of Parliament for this constituency for two straight terms, garnered a total of 20,225 votes to emerge as an absolute choice to represent the people in Bintulu at the Dewan Rakyat for another five years.

His stupendous majority of 11,267 votes had surprised all, considering the determinations shown by his contenders - Chiew Chin Sing of DAP and SNAP's Dr Lau Hieng Kii - to unseat him to create a then prediction of a closely fought battle.

Mathematically, the majority that Tiong secured was close to 10 times more than what he garnered when he first contested in 1999 where he defeated Chiew by a majority of 1,400 votes. Being a newcomer then, Tiong secured 15,681 votes.

Chiew, 50, a well-known politician in a quest to reclaim the seat that he once won in 1995 could only managed to lure 8,958 votes this time, which was about 63 percent less than what he got when he lost in 1999 where he got 14,281 votes.

In declining to comment on his latest defeat, Chiew had told The Borneo Post on Monday that he would be issuing a statement on the matter soon.

This year's election here also came as a sad experience for SNAP's political newcomer Dr Lau Hieng Kii, who lost his deposit when the 2,583 votes that he obtained was less than one-eighth of the total votes counted.

Supported by a polician with long experience in former MP, Ting Ling Kiew who acted as the SNAP election coordinator, Dr Lau, 47, was way behind to contend with the other candidates in the race for the seat.

The results from various areas, particularly in the rural, also reflected that SNAP had lost their ground despite being banging on the campaign that they would be accepted into Barisan Nasional should they won. 

The people in the rural had seen how the remarkable record that Tiong possessed in serving as the MP over the last five years could not be overshadowed by the relentless attempts of the oppositions to lure them to vote otherwise.

At the other end of the constituency, the predominantly Muslim Bumiputeras area had shown their undivided loyalty to the Barisan Nasional despite of the recent political development in the State, particularly that involved SNAP.

On the Chinese majority area, the increase in percentage votes won by Tiong had also indicating his rising popularity and the people's acceptance of his ability to become a representative of all in the constituency.

Most notably, the cooperation and closeness shown by the Barisan Nasional component parties - Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) - prevailed so much in this election and spelt a good sign for the coalition to overcome future challenges in Bintulu.

Sparing no effort to ensure victory, the untiring Tiong, the SPDP treasurer-general, had been concurred with strong commitments from all the other local BN leaders throughout the campaign period. 

With the dust from the parliamentary election now settled and the people had made a definite choice of their representative, the BN spirit had been heightened by the enormous victory and should be the inspiration to record further jubilations in Bintulu.