PAPAR: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) Deputy Sec-Gen. Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said it is not accurate to say that Chinese voters rejected the ruling coalition in the recent 17th State Election (PRN17).
“Not all State seats reflected such trend.
“This was proven in the Pantai Manis seat which was contested by a GRS candidate and saw the coalition win, an area with a Chinese-majority electorate.
“For five previous elections, the ruling party had never won at the Bandar Polling District Centre, including during the 15th General Election (PRU15) when I myself contested, despite a slight increase in votes.
“However, this time we won due to strong support from the Chinese community.”
He was responding to claims of a rejection by Chinese voters based on the eight seats contested by DAP falling to Parti Warisan.
“Furthermore, GRS did not contest in any Chinese-majority constituencies. Therefore, to say that the Chinese community totally rejected GRS or our partners is not accurate,” said Armizan, who is also Member of Parliament for Papar.
In PRN17, Sabah DAP failed to secure any seat while PKR won only one out of 13 seats contested and Amanah failed to win the sole seat it contested, Sulabayan.
Armizan, who is also Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, said the situation could be interpreted as a signal from voters that needed to be heeded by the parties concerned.
However, he said the results must be accepted and respected, followed by efforts to improve any factors that led to such a situation.
“I think they (Chinese voters) have certain messages they want to convey, asking us to make improvements. At the GRS level, we are implementing those improvements.
“Most importantly, our manifesto and commitments must be translated through the direction of the state government.
“I believe all Sabahans, including the Chinese community, are waiting to see the government’s plans for the next five years under the SMJ 2.0 direction,” he said.
.jpg)
