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Continued from yesterday

N.13 – Pantai Dalit

Pantai Dalit used to be part of Sulaman. It was contested for the first time in 2020 after it was carved out of Sulaman. It was one of the 13 new State seats in 2020.It now includes among other Tuaran Town (Chinese majority) and the Bajau fishing village of Mengkabong. Pantai Dalit is where the Shangrila Rasa Ria Resort and the Dalit Golf Club are.

In 2020, it was a 8-cornered fight. The winner was Jasnih Daya of BN-Umno. PN-Bersatu did not contest then as it had an understanding with BN. Jasnih got 6,868 votes.

His closest rival was Rakam Sijim of Warisan who got 3,074 votes. The others all lost their deposits, getting only a few hundred votes. One of the Independent candidates was Johan Jahid, son of Datuk Jahid Jahim of PBS. He got 244 votes.

Jasnih, the former Tuaran Umno Youth Leader, was one of the Umno Assemblymen who did not agree with Sabah Umno chairman Bung Mokhtar when he tried to stage a coup against Hajiji with the help of Warisan. Jasnih has since joined PGRS and is now standing as a GRS candidate. 

For those who are confused between PGRS and GRS, PGRS is Hajiji’s own party whereas GRS is the name of the coalition. In this election, GRS has a pact with PH (PKR, DAP).

This time around, Jasnih is facing 6 other candidates from PN, Warisan, Star, KDM, PIS and BN. His greatest challenge is expected to come from Warisan’s Datuk Aliasgar Basri who fought Hajiji in neighbouring Sulaman in 2020.

The Star candidate is Francis Fahir, a former RTM newscaster. His post before he retired was as Head of the RTM Newsroom in Kota Kinabalu, I think. There are a sizeable number of Dusun Lotud voters in and around Tuaran. Francis is a Lotud.

Of course, election being what it is, you can’t discard BN or that matter PN or even KDM.

N.14 Tamparuli

This is a 13-cornered fight, one of the most crowded. The incumbent is PBS’ DSP Jahid Jahim but he is not contesting. His replacement is Dr Bonaventure Boniface who is Assistant Information Chief of PBS.

Dr Bonaventure is a senior lecturer with UMS and holds the rank of Associate Professor. Apart from being an academic, he is also Chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council of St John Church, Tuaran. He and his father even serve in the Church during Mass as Choir Members including duting funerals.

His father was once Headmaster of the St John Primary School. He also heads an NGO called Mitatabang Komuniti which has been helping the villagers in and around Tamparuli, complementing Jahid’s effort past few years. So it is not fair to say that he is new in PBS Tamparuli.

His opponents say that he stays in Tuaran and not Tamparuli and that his father originated from Kuala Penyu. Come on, don’t be so petty. The late Datuk Dr James Ongkili (JPO) also did not come from Tamparuli.

He came from Tambunan, only his wife is from Tamparuli. And yet as Berjaya candidate JPO won in 1976 and again in 1981. PM Anwar is from Penang  but now he is MP in Perak.

Talking about Ongkili, it brings us to the other candiates. One of them is Dr (PhD) Julia Ongkili, daughter of JPO. She is standing on a Parti Impian Sabah (PIS) ticket,. a comparatively new party.

This is Julia’s election debut but it doesn’t mean that she cannot win. Being the only lady candidate, she may just win. Women power, you never know. She is after all well-educated and an Ongkili.

Just like her late father, two of her brothers are alo PhD holders and her sister is also studying for a PhD. I listened to her podcast recently and she is full of ideas on how to improve Tamparuli. It was her late father who made Tamparuli a sub-district after Berjaya won.

She has plans to turn it into a full district and eventually even municipality. Quite ambitious but would you like a YB who is not ambitious? All the best, young lady.

Other candidates include Dr Bonaventure’s colleague at UMS who recently retired as lecturer, Dr Gaim @ James Lunkapis of KDM. Dr Gaim has been going round Tamparuli for quite sometime now since his retirement and seems to be getting good response, with his easy-going style.

Independent candidate Raymond Alfred is also a PhD holder, I think. In fact, Tamparuli has the most number of candidates with PhD. 

PhD holders aside, there is also a medical doctor. He is Dr Joseph Lee of Warisan, a native of Tamparuli. He has a private clinic in Kota Kinabalu near Penampang. He used to be with PBS and joined Warisan only recently.

He is not new to politics though. He was the PBS candidate in the MP election in KK in 2018. He obtained 7,546 votes as opposed to DAP winner Chan Foong Hin’s 31,632 votes.

In 2013, he was the DAP candidate for Putatan. He got 7,958 votes against winner Marcus Mojigoh’s (BN) 17,465 votes.

Just as it was thought that the fight would be between Dr Bonaventure and Dr Julia Ongkili, suddenly Upko’s DSP Wilfred Madius Tangau also entered the fray. I am of course not questioning his right. It’s a free for all in any election. Tangau needs no introduction in Tamparuli, Kiulu and Tuaran.

He was Tuaran MP for a few terms and Tuaran includes Tamparuli, Kiulu and Pantai Dalit. So the people of Tamparuli do not consider him a stranger. Apart from being an MP, he was once also a Federal Minister and State Minister (DCM). So experience-wise, he does not lack.

However, it was not all plain-sailing for Tangau. In the 2020 State election in Kiulu, despite being the DCM, he lost to PBS’ Datuk Joniston Bangkuai who did not nold any government post then. But in 2022 he had sweet revenge when he defated Joniston in the MP election for Tuaran. It was the other way round.

Joniston was an Assistant Minister while Tangau held no official post apart from being the incumbent MP. This time around, Tangau avoided Kiulu and went to Tamparuli instead.

Meanwhile, out of the 13 candidates in Tamparuli, 5 are Independents. Among them is Razali Koroh, son of former Berjaya Minister the late Tan Sri Suffian Koroh. He married a Tamparulian.

Another Independent is incumbent Datuk Jahid Jahim’s son, Johan, the one who also stood as an Independent in Pantai Dalit against Jasnih in 2020. 

N. 15 Kiulu

This is a 8-cornered fight. The incumbent is PBS’ Datuk Joniston Bangkuai. He first won in 2013, taking over from Datuk Louis Rampas. He was appointed as Chairman of the Sabah Tourism Board and since 2020 doubled as Assistant Tourism Minister. First time in Sabah’s history.

In 2020, he was involved in a 6-cornered fight. He obtained 4,007 votes with a majority of 1,221. His nearest rival, DSP Wilfred Madius Tangau got 2,786 votes. Mind you, at that time Tangau was Upko president and a Deputy Chief Minister cum Tuaran MP and Joniston was an Opposition YB. 

Joniston’s massive victory proved beyond doubt that Kiulu is a PBS stronghold since Gisin Lombut defeated the late Toh Puan Rahimah Stephens in 1985. Former Keningau DO Datuk Louis Rampas took over in 1999 and continued until 2013.

Among Joniston’s challengers this time around are candidates from KDM, PKS, Anak Negeri, Warisan, Upko, PIS and Star. KDM’s Henry Saimpon is more than an ex-State footballer. He holds a Masters degree in Political Science.

PKS’ Dusi Gingging is a successful businessman majoring in agriculture. He was the one who fainted during nomination. However, his nomination was accepted. He was hospitalized and there was talk of him withdrawing. But there been no announcement from him or PKS. Anyway, the Election Commssion has clarified that once your nomination is accepted, your name will appear on the polling paper even if you withdraw.

The Anak Negeri candidate is Trevor Maringking who is party secretary-general. He is son of former Tuaran MP the late Edward Yunof Maringking. Just like his father, he is a lawyer.

The practised in the same legal firm and they successfully represented former CM Tan Sri Harris Salleh in a case. Yunof was a PBS MP around the same time when Anak Negeri president Datuk Henrynus Amin was PBS MP for Ranau between the late 80s and early 90s.

Upko’s Joisin Romut may pose a threat to Joniston. He has been active in Kiulu politics for a long time and was Tangau’s political secretary when the latter was a Federal Minister. He was Tangau’s righthand man as far as Upko Kiulu is concerned. He has a pleasing personality and a staunch Christian.

Star’s Terence Sinti may also pose a threat to Joniston. He challenged Joniston twice, in 2013 and 2018, both occasions as Star candidate. In other words, a true-blue Star man and supporter of Dr Jeffrey.

Although he lost to Joniston on both occasions, he never lost his deposits. In other words, you cannot write him off. 

Warisan’s candidate is Saibin Gunsari, an ex-educationist. He was a secondary school principal before he retired. He is affectionately known to the Kiulu people as Cikgu Saibin. Most of his former students can now vote.

P. 171 Sepanggar

N.16 Karambunai

This is an 11-cornered fight. It is the 3rd largest constituency in terms of number of voters with almost 40,000, after Kepayan and Inanam. The incumbent is Datuk Yakub Khan who won it on a BN-Umno ticket in 2020. Umno was a partner of PN-Bersatu then and after the election Yakub @ Yakubah was made a Minister.

However, after the failed coup of 2023, he was dropped as a Minister along with his political boss Bung Mokhtar.

In 2020, Yakub obtained 5,180 votes beating his nearest opponent Warisan”s Ahmad Jais Otong by a mere 16 votes. This shows that this Ahmad Jais is not an ordinary person. The duo meet again in this election and the same parties. He is the Deputy Chief of Warisan Karambunai.

This time around, apart from Warisan, Yakub’s strongest challenge is expected to come from GRS’ Datuk Arshad Idris who at 75 is believed to be the oldest. His age indicates that he is a veteran in Karambunai . His brother Jumat Idris was a Sepanggar MP during BN-Umno time. Arshad is a Member of the Advisory Panel of DBKK.

Head of PGRS Karambunai, he has been working hard in the area past 3 years.

Another candidate is Datuk Dr Aliakbar of PN-PAS. As PAS was a component of PN in 2020 which included Bersatu, Aliakbar was appointed a Nominated Member of the State Assembly after the election. This was in compensation of PAS not given a seat to contest I think.

Apparently Dr (PhD) Aliakbar has been quietly working in Karambunai for the past few years. Since Karambunai is a Muslim-majority area, by logic Dr Aliakbar stands an equal chance. Then recently a PAS Assemblyman in Kedah said that Sabahans can be bought by two loaves of Gardenia bread. I don’t have to elaborate.

# More tomorrow