By: Datuk Teddy Chin
(Continued from yesterday)
N.21 Luyang
It’s a 5-way fight. The incumbent since 2018 Ginger Phoong Jin Zhe the Sabah DAP ‘taikoh’ has moved to neighbor Likas. In 2020, Phoong polled 15,510 votes to beat his nearest rival Gee Tien Siong of BN-SAPP who got only 989 votes.
The other 4 candidates including an Independent lost their deposits, including former DAP YB Hiew King Cheu.
This time, Gee is in the race again but he won’t get to face Ginger a second time as the latter has moved to Likas. Also, the situation this time around SAPP is no longer attached to the ruling coalition which also involves ‘Malaya’ parties like DAP and PKR. Will this new situation improve Gee’s votes and by how many? We wait and see.
The DAP candidate this time around is Chan Loong Wei, Phoong’s protégé. Chan was Phoong’s political secretary in the Ministry and Phoong has been grooming him since.
At 25, Chan is one of the youngest, if not the youngest, candidate around. It is understandable that more young people are being groomed as people as young as 18 can now vote.
Chan has a Diploma in Business Studies (Banking and Investment) from TARUC. He rose from being Phoong’s Special Officer in the Youth & Sports Ministry to Phoong’s Political Secretary in the Industrial Development Ministry.d1
At the party level, he rose from being Executive Secretary of DAPSY Sabah to Sabah DAPSY Secretary to Sabah DAPSY Chief now. Quite a political journey for a young man.
Will the young Chan be able to step into Phoong’s shoes? “Well, Phoong was himself young when he first became YB in 2018,” someone commented.
P.173 Putatan
N.22 Tanjung Aru
This is a 9-cornered fight. The incumbent is Wong Hong Jun or better known as Junz Wong of Warisan. He was the DAP Assemblyman in Likas from 2013 but later jumped to Warisan and became its Tanjung Aru candidate in 2018.
In 2020, in a 8-cornered fight, Junz obtained 5,685 votes. His nearest rival, Mohd Reduan Aklee of BN-Umno, got 2,538 votes. All the other candidates got less than 1,000 votes each and assumably lost their deposits.
They included former Tanjung Aru Assemblyman Datuk Edward Yong of PBS and Ibrahim OKK Mohd Laiman Diki of LDP. Reduan is the son of former Umno Assemblyman Datuk Aklee and former Assistant Minister.
This time around, Junz’s strongest challenge is expected to come from PH-DAP’s Chan Foong Hin. Chan is no small fry. He is Sabah DAP deputy chief, KK MP and a Deputy Minister in KL.
“Looks like DAP is going for broke, wanting to settle an ‘old debt’ – referring to Junz’s dumping DAP in 2018,” said an observer, quoting a Chinese phrase “Sai Lang” (going for broke).
Among the candidates is Datuk Ronnie Loh Ee Eng, the Sabah Deputy Chairman of Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) His wife Datin Soo is the Sabah PBK chief and is contesting in Api-Api. It is not for me to ask why. We are in a free country.
Ronnie was Sabah DAP Treasurer and was active in Tanjung Aru so much so that he was expected to represent the party there. in 2018. But DAP had a pact with Warisan and was told to leave Tanjung Aru alone.
As a ‘compensation’, after Warisan+ formed the Sabah Government in 2018, Ronnie was made a Nominated Member of the State Assembly. In 2020, Ronnie was one of those who threw their weight behind ex-CM Musa Aman who claimed that he now had enough YBs to form the government. But Musa’s plan hit a snag when then CM Shafie managed to advise the TYT Tun Juhar to dissolve the Assembly for a snap election. The rest is history.
After the 2020 election, Ronnie associated himself with CM Hajiji and was made a Board Member or Director of Sabah Oil & Gas (SOGIP). He was later a Chinese leader in Parti KDM, only to dump it later. He and his wife brought PBK into Sabah earlier this year. End of story.
Another candidate not to be ignored is Upko’s Dennison R Indang. He too has been working hard in Tanjung Aru for sometime and seems to have good PR with not just the KDM voters, but also Chinese and Muslim.
There are two Independents in Tanjung Aru. One of them is Dr (PhD) Ritchie Jay Cheng. He too has been working in Tanjung Aru for sometimes and was a leader of PGRS there. Standing as an Independent, he is expected to be sacked from PGRS along with a few other similar Independents.
Although Tanjung Aru is a Muslim-majority area and Cheng is Chinese, he is obviously banging on his influence as Chairman of the Sabah Chinese Muslim Association.
N.23 Petagas
This is a 10-cornered fight. The incumbent is Awang Ahamd Sah Awang Sahari. He won it on a Warisan ticket in 2020 with 4,125 votes. His nearest opponent was Arsit Sedi of PN-GRS who got 3,864 votes. Awang however later dumped Warisan and joined GRS via PGRS.
Awang is defending his seat but however not on a GRS ticket but as an Independent. This is TV yfbecause GRS is not fielding anyxyftftt’c add🥕🥕 candidate this time to make way for Awang Husaini Sahari of PH-PKR. Husaini was the PKR MP for Putatan from 2018. In 2022, he lost narrowly to BN-Umno’s Shahelmy Yahya in the Putatan MP election. A lawyer, Husaini went to court but Shahelmy won.
Also in the fray is Warisan’s Datuk Uda Sulai. He won Petagas also on a Warisan ticket in 2018 and was appointed an Assistant Minister. However, in 2020 Awang Ahmad was fielded instead of him. So this time Uda, a former District Officer, makes a comeback obviously to win the seat back for Warisan.
Incidentally, Uda is related to the Awang brothers. I think his status is as their uncle. So it’s all in the family. Small world.
Also in the fray are Jason Lee of Upko and Annita Shiela F Among of Star.
N.24 Tanjung Keramat
This is an 11-cornered fight. The incumbent is Datuk Shahelmy Yahya. He won it in 2020 as a BN-Umno candidate with 4,594 votes. His closest rival was Warisan’s Rosdy Wasli who got 3,470 votes. However, Shahelmy who is also Putatan MP is not defending his seat.
Shahelmy was one of the Umno Assemblymen who did not go along with Bung Mokhtar’s plan to withdraw support for Hajiji in early 2023. He has since been suspended by Umno.
However, when CM Hajiji reshuffled the State Cabinet following Bung’s failed coup, Shahelmy was promoted as DCM to replace Bung. Before that he was ordinary Minister. Shahelmy has been GRS-friendly since then. He however fell short of joining GRS officially due to legal restrictions.
Meanwhile, the GRS candidate for Tanjung Keramat is Shah Alfie Yahya, Shahelmy’s brother. He is seen as a compromise candidate.
Among Alfie’s challengers is surprisingly Upko’s Rosdy Wasli who was Warisan candidate in 2020. This is politics. You drop someone, someone else will pick him up. Warisan this time around fielded Mohammad Firdaus Diun. Both Rosdy and Firdaus are expected to give Alfie a good fight.
Also posing a threat is BN-Umno’s Jeffery Nor Mohamed. He is Umno Putatan chief and is Sabah Umno’s Director of Election, something like that. In other words, he is not just any Tom, Dick and Harry in Sabah Umno.
P.174 Penampang
N.25 Kapayan
This is another crowded field with 13 candidates. Not only that. It is the constituency with the most voters, almost 50,000. Which led to calls recently for Kapayan to be split as it lies between KK and Penampang.
The incumbent is Datuk Jannie Lasimbang of PH-DAP who is defending her seat. She has served for 2 terms beginning 2018. After Warisan+’s victory in 2018, she was made an Assistant Minister.
In fact, history was made as her sister Jenifer (sic) who won on a Warisan ticket in Moyog was also made an Assistant Minister. However, the sister didn’t defend Moyog in 2020.
Jannie replaced Edwin Jack Bosi who won it also on a DAP ticket in 2013. He however left DAP before the 2018 election. In 2020, Edwin made a comeback and became a PBS candidate in Kapayan.He collect. 803 votes against Jannie’s 15,052 votes.
Edwin is back again, this time as a KDM candidate. Don’t get me wrong. Just because someone got a few hundred votes, he will get the same result forever. This is politics. I have seen people who lost deposits come back to win the election!
Among Jannie’s formidable opponents is lawyer Chin Tek Ming of Warisan He was the BN-PBS candidate for the KK MP seat in 2013. He received 9,557 votes as opposed to the 28,516 collected by Jimmy Wong of DAP.
Among the Independent candidates is Cyril Gerard Liew whose symbol is a horse, meaning he is willing to work like a horse for the people of Kapayan. He belongs to the Gelombang Hitam (Black Wave) independent candidates movement led by Kudat MP Verdon Bahanda. He was Jannie’s Community Development Leader (PPM).
He resigned to stand against Jannie. Why? You have to ask him.
Cyril is a Sino-Kadazan from Penampang but I think he speaks more Kadazan than Chinese. He is a staunch Catholic and is active in the church.
Other candidates include Billy Joe Dominic of Upko and Bernard A Logijin of Star.
N.26 Moyog
This is a 12-cornered fight. The incumbent is Datuk Darell Leiking, the Deputy President of Warisan. He won it in 2020 with 8,437 votes.
His nearest rival was Joe Suleiman of PN-Star who got 2,502 votes. PBS’ John Masabal obtained 1,175 votes. Former Penampang DO Datuk William Sampil, standing on a PCS ticket, got 975 votes.
Leiking replaced Jenifer Lasimbang also of Warisan who won in 2018. This is a party decision and Warisan strategy. No need to explain why. Jenifer in turn replaced Terrence Siambun who won it in 2013.
This time, Siambun is back as the Warisan candidate as Leiking is said to be concentrating on the next MP election for Penampang which he lost to Upko president Datuk Ewon Benedick in 2022. Besides, Leiking is busy as Warisan’s election director this time around.
Joe Suleiman is also back as Star candidate. The only difference is Star is no longer part of GRS (formerly PN) and is now on its own together with SAPP. Will Joe be able to increase Star’s votes now that it has left GRS? We wait and see.
Also back as a candidate is Upko’s Datuk Donald Peter Mojuntin, a former Penampang MP and Moyog Assemblyman. In 2018, as BN-Upko candidate he collected 5,303 votes against Jenifer’s 9,745 votes.
Just like Joe of Star, this time Upko also left GRS and is on its own. Whether this will make any difference, coupled with his family name, we will know soon.
Besides, his president Ewon is seen as a hero now to some if not most KDM in Penampang for daring to resign as a Federal Minister and pulling Upko out of PH. Donald is Upko deputy president.
Last but not least is GRS-PBS candidate Ir Ts Joeynodd Bansin. As his title suggests, he is both an engineer and a technologist. Moyog used to be a PBS stronghold since 1986 and until Warisan came into the picture in 2018. Whether the young man Joeynodd can turn it around and make Moyog a PBS stronghold again remains to be seen.
But nothing is impossible. I mean, for example, who expected Ewon to defeat Leiking in 2022? Although Ewon is from Upko and not PBS, it still proves a point that no one is indispensable.
KL-based national parties like PH and PN do not want to be left out also. They have fielded their candidates too. Why did PH field Remysta Jimmy Taylor I don’t know. I only know that PBS is supposed to represent GRS and full stop. PN-Bersatu has fielded Francis Mojikon.
He is one of the few who remained loyal to PN after most left for GRS.
# More tomorrow
