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THE dust has settled. The assemblymen including the 6 Nominated or Appointed Members of the August House have taken their Oath-of-Office. The Finance Minister has tabled the 2026 State Budget.

It’s work, work and work from now on, by YBs from both sides of the political divide. Here is my constituency-by-constituency analysis post mortem of the election as promised.

However, before I proceed, I would like to offer my deepest condolence to the family of the late DSP Bung Moktar Radin. I knew him personally because in 1994 when he was Political Secretary to the Finance Minister (DSP Salleh Said) and me as Press Secretary, our rooms were next door. 

Here goes:-

N.01 Banggi

This island on the norther tip of Sabah off Kudat saw a 12-cornered fight. The winner was Datuk Mohammad Mohamarin of GRS. He first won it on a Warisan ticket in 2018 and again in 2020. In 2023 he switched to GRS via PGRS. Despite that, he managed to win back Banggi though on a different ticket. Not everyone who switched party win again. 

Polling 2,484 votes, he defeated his nearest rival Zainal Romio of Warisan who got 1,178 votes. The others include Normala Rasik of BN (470 votes), and lawyer Rahimah Majid of PN (296).

N.02 – Bengkoka

This constituency on the Bengkoka Peninsular off Marudu Bay and facing Banggi saw a 11-cornered fight. The incumbent is Datuk Harun Durabi of BN. He first won it in 2020 after the constituency was recreated from Pitas. In 2004, it was abolished and merged with Pitas.

After the 2020 election, Harun was made an Assistant Minister when BN formed the State Government together with PN (Bersatu). After the failed coup of January 2023, when 3 BN Ministers were dropped, he was one of the Umno Assistant Ministers allowed to remain until the 2025 election. However, he was not reappointed an Assistant Minister recently.

In the recent election, Harun won with 2.485 votes. His nearest rival was Dr Samuil Mopun of GRS. In other words, the majority was only 77, in Tambola terms it’s called Hockey Stick. Very slim majority. Anyway, nobody can beat the 10-vote majority of Datuk Rina Jainal of Kukusan in 2020 and 44 of Joniston in Kiulu in 2013.

The others included Star’s Maklin Masiau (1,899 votes), KDM’s Rahim @ Richard Mazagi (1,528) and Warisan’s Fauziah Stephens (1,290). An Independent, Jomin Mogompit, secured 1,084 votes. To me, any Independent securing 1,000 votes and above is OK already. The rest all Hilang Deposit.

N.03 Pitas

In this 6-cornered fight, incumbent Datuk Seri Dr Ruddy Awah managed to successfully defend his seat. He was one of the 3 Independents who won in 2020 and threw their weight behind the then PN+ government. When GRS was formed and replaced PN, he became a GRS Direct Member. Then in the recent election Harun he officially became a GRS candidate. 

In the recent election, Ruddy secured 5,754 votes. His nearest rival, Harun Ismail of Warisan got 4,189 votes. His brother, Bolkiah Ismail, of BN got 1,331 votes. But even if you add the two brothers’ votes together, it is still not enough to defeat Ruddy.

Harun was the CEO of Sogip (Oil & Gas). Upon his retirement, he joined GRS and was made deputy chairman of the Pitas PGRS Division. Only to jump to Warisan before nomination and he was quickly named Warisan candidate for Pitas.

Bolkiah is a former Pitas Assemblyman and was an Assistant Minister when BN was the government.

Ruddy is popular in Pitas. Despite having only a little bit of Chinese blood and doesn’t speak Chinese, he holds a Chinese New Year “do” in his house compound. The week-long and carnival-like celebration has earned him a few Malaysian Book of Records (MBR) and even South East Asia Book of Records.

N.04 Tanjong Kapor

Tanjong Kapor is essentially Kudat Town and surrounding areas. It saw a 11-cornered fight. The incumbent is Datuk Ben Chong Chen Bin of GRS. He first won the seat on a Warisan ticket in 2018 and again in 2020.

In 2023 he was one of the few Warisan Assemblymen who crossed over to GRS, first as Independent and later officially GRS. Despite that, just like Mohammad Mohamarin in Banggi, he won again.

Chong who was an Assistant Minister under the Warisan+ government, polled 6,171 votes. His nearest opponent, independent Verdon Bahanda got 5,812 votes, a majority of 359 which showed the strength of the independent. In 2022, Verdon created history when he won the Kudat MP election despite standing as an Independent.

In other words, he could have won this time too.

Warisan’s Terence Au received a respectable 4,737 votes. MCA’s Kelvin Lee got 1,455 votes. I would imagine that most of Lee’s votes are Chinese votes from Kudat town. He has been loyal to MCA over the years and I respect such people.

Star’s Shawn Davey Robert Lee who always offered himself as a candidate whenever an election is near got only 434 votes.

Ben was the only GRS Chinese candidate who won. He is now Assistant Finance Minister and he returned to Kudat recently to a heroic welcome.

N.05 Matunggong

This was a 6-cornered fight. The incumbent is Datuk Julita Majungki of GRS. She first won it in 2018 on a BN-PBS ticket. Then again in 2020.

This time around, she garnered 9,096 votes. Her closest rival, as expected, was KDM candidate Datuk Wetrom Bahanda who polled 8,762 votes. Majority is 334. Can say close fight lah. But a win is a win.

Julita is secretary-general of PBS, the first woman to hold the post. After the recent election, she was made a Minister. She replaced Datuk Jahid Jahim’s quota, the other PBS Minister in the former Cabinet. Jahid did not seek re-election.

Wetrom is a Deputy President of KDM and the defacto leader of the party. He is a Giant Killer for defeating DSP Dr Maximus Ongkili in the Kota Marudu MP election of 2022. Julita is Dr Max’s protégé. The fact that she almost lost to Wetrom proves my point.

Former Matunggong Assemblywoman and former Assistant Minister Datuk Jornah Mozihim, standing on  Warisan ticket, obtained 1,138 votes. 

Anyway, Julita proved her prowess and that she is not that easy to beat. Her recent  Ministership is well-earned.

N.06 Bandau

This is an interesting seat. “Interesting” due to 2 reasons. First, it has a large number of candidates – 13. Meaning a lot of people wanted to try their luck. Second, an Independent won instead of a major party or ruling party candidate.

The Independent who won is Datuk Maijol Mahap. A lawyer, he was the PGRS chairman for Bandau and had been working hard preparing the ground work for the last few years. He was also a party leader at the State level.

Then just before nomination, he was told to make way for the party women chief, Datuk Redonah Bahanda who was also a Political Secretary to the Chief Minister.

Redonah is the sister of Datuk Wetrom Bahanda the incumbent Bandau Assemblyman who moved to neighbouring Matunggong apparently to make way for his sister although they belong to different parties.

After consulting his followers, Maijol decided to stand as an Independent. He made the right decision for he won, albeit with a jaority of only 244. Maijol, a religious man, obtained 3,996 votes against Datuk Redonah Bahanda’s 3,752. 

The result could have been different had it not been for the last-minute joining the fray of PH-PKR candidate Zaidi Jatil who obtained an impressive 2,631 votes. PH is supposed to have a pact with GRS. PH chairman and PM described it as a ‘Friendly Contest’. Whether it can be considered a stab in the back on the part of PKR, we don’t know.

But for the record, out of the 21 seats that PH contested, it won only one. Even that one was a candidate ‘on loan’ from GRS. Anyway, without Zaidi the result could have gone either way – either in favour of Redonah or Maijol.

Jaiping Minsu of KDM also put up an impressive fight, gathering 2,471 votes. Candidates who gathered more than 1,000 votes each were Warisan’s Rizham Abd Rahman (1,613) and Star’s Shirewin Patrick (1,189). 

Maijol has been appointed an Assistant Minister in the new State Government. As many mistakenly thought, an Assistant Minister (or Deputy Minister in KL) is NOT a Member of the Cabinet. That’s why he doesn’t attend Cabinet Meetings unless invited.

N.07 Tandek

Tandek which borders Pitas saw an 8-corner fight. The incumbent is Datuk Hendrus Anding of GRS. He first won in 2020, defeating among others the then incumbent Datuk Anita Baranting.

In the recent election, Hendrus polled 7,754 votes to beat his nearest rival, Datuk Arlinsia Agang of Star by 3,026 votes. An impressive majoriy by any standard. Arlinsia, an aide of DSP Dr Jeffery Kitingan, managed 4,528 votes. 

KDM’s Benson Tuyundo put up a good fight by polling 2,893 votes. Warisan’s Jilid @ Zainuddin Kuminding only managed a 4th place with 1,674 votes. 

Hendrus of PBS was an Assistant Minister of Agriculture in the former government. He has been re-appointed to the post.

N.08 Pintasan

This is a 11-cornerd fight. The incumbent is Datuk Fairuz Renddan of GRS. He won it in 2020 on a PN (Bersatu) ticket. Pintasan was one of the 13 new seats contested for the first time in 2020. He later became the PGRS Youth Chief.

He was appointed a Political Secretary to the Finance Minister soon after the 2020 election. He was later promoted as an Assistant Minister until the recent dissolution of the State Assembly.

In 2020, Fairuz narrowly defeated Usno president Tan Sri Pandikar Amin by a mere 84 votes. Fairuz received 2,744 votes compared to Pandikar’s 2,660. Usno was not a component of PN (later GRS) then.

Usno later joined GRS and Pandikar was chosen as the GRS candidate for Pintasan over Fairuz. This was despite Fairuz being the incumbent, an Assistant Minister and PGRS Youth Chief.

Asked by reporters on his chances of winning after GRS chairman Hajiji announced his candidacy, Pandikar challenged reporters to bet with him.

Just like Maijol, Fairuz consulted his followers and decided to stand as an Independent. 

In the recent election, Fairuz obtained 4.675 votes while Pandikar got 3,605. The majority was 1,070, a big difference or improvement over the 84 majority in 2020.

Political observers attributed this to sympathy votes for Fairuz for being sidelined.

Abdullah Otong of Warisan obtained 1,167 votes while Tadzul Radim of BN got 1,024 votes. In other words, Pintasan is clearly not a Warisan/BN country lah. The others who got only a few hundred votes no need to mention lah.

Fairuz is one of the 5 successful Independent candidates in the recent election. Four of them were made Assistant Ministers, first time in the history of Sabah.  

Fairuz was Assistant Youth & Sports Minister previously and now posted to the Ministry.of Local Government & Housing.

The views expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express. If you have something to share, write to us at: Forum@dailyexpress.com.my