• ON THE GO: Tiong spends most of his time with the people in Bintulu including rural folk he also works for.

“I have never considered myself as someone that important,” Tiong told reporters asking him about this title given him by the DAP.

Tiong, who is also a Justice of the Peace, said he was just a common politician with a heart for the people.

‘Heavyweight’ in Mandarin refers to a person who is influential and powerful.

Tiong said: “The strength in my political commitment has come from the people, and it is the people to whom I shall return to. Therefore there is nothing to boast of if a politician has achieved something for them.”

He thanked the DAP for the title, but said that “maybe it should be reserved for their candidate, Lim Su Kien”.

Tiong said he was more used to be called by his nickname or as his friends liked.

“Some of my buddies even call me ‘Fatty’. I don’t mind, because being casual with them will help break down walls in our friendship.”

Tiong, who is seeking to return to his Bintulu seat for the third term, said he also did not like to be called a ‘hero’ either when standing to voice the concern of the people in parliament on gangsterism.

When Tiong did that the last time, he took parliament by storm and attracted the attention of the media nationwide.

Within months, dozens of gang leaders were arrested and kicked out of Sarawak.

To the relief of the people, this was followed by many other stringent efforts of the police to crush gangsterism.

During a DAP public dialogue, a leader had commented that Tiong had virtually become popular overnight in the country for standing up for the people in fighting gangsterism.

But to Tiong, he was only doing his part as the people’s representative.

“Being a politician in the BN fold, we have a proper channel to bring the voice of the people to the government and work for them,” he said.

He said there were DAP members in parliament too.

“If they consider voicing out on gangsterism will bring them fame, why not they also make use of the issue to become famous?”

He said, as a representative of the people, that was not how a person should seek fame.

“If one is thinking only of political gain in an undertaking, he will not have the people at heart.”

Tiong recalled that he had asked an MP in the house’s lobby why he had not brought up the gangsterism issue since he had known of its existence in Sarawak.

“That person told me that he dared not because he did not want to get into trouble or get killed.”

Tiong said political commitment meant working for the people and therefore one must always put the interest of the people on the top agenda.

DAP candidate Lim involved in a straight fight with Tiong had commented in a recent ceramah that if crushing gangsterism had been so successful in Sarawak, why had the national crime rate not gone down.

Tiong, replying to her query in a press interview, said he was disappointed with such a statement, saying Lim could have felt that gangsterism was not a threat to the people.

He suggested that she and her party members go to the people to see how they felt, and how they suffered under the gangsters’ threats.

“To have a hand on security in the country, it needs the cooperation of all – the people, police officers and enforcement teams. He said he had been working with the people, took the evidence from them on gangsterism, and brought them to parliament and the police.

“I have even exposed names of officers who have not performed their duties well.”

On security in Bintulu, he said he had often discussed it with the police and hoped the people would continue working with them.