KOTA KINABALU: Veteran Sabah politician Tan Sri Joseph Kurup will defend his Pensiangan parliamentary seat for a second term on a Barisan Nasional ticket.

The candidacy of the 69-year-old Kurup, who is Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president, ends speculation that he was planning to retire from politics.

Kurup, who is deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister, won the Pensiangan seat unopposed in March 2008 general election. The unopposed decision was challenged but upheld by the High Court after the election court declared the result null and void.

Kurup said his party will also retain the Sook state seat and announced that his PBRS deputy Datuk Ellron Alfred Angin will defend it.

He said his party was confident of retaining the two seats but did not want under estimate their opponents.

"We still have to work hard and we now working on strategies to win the hearts and minds of the people," he said on arrival from Kuala Lumpur Monday night.

On seat distribution, he said that PBRS was satisfied with the outcome of the decisions by the Barisan leadership and they were assured of "compensation" in the form of other posts later.

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