‘Field one candidate for Sandakan’

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno is hoping for a single opposition candidate to be fielded in the coming Sandakan parliamentary seat by-election following the sudden death of DAP Member of Parliament Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt (pic).

Sabah Umno chairman Datuk Bung Mokthar Radin said Umno would not be contesting the seat but would support a single candidate from the opposition front.

“I’ve spoken to PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leaders on the need to come out with a single candidate,” he said.

“What we want is a single opposition candidate and Sabah Umno will support him,” said the Kinaba­tangan MP whose parliament seat borders the Sandakan constituency.

LDP and PBS were former Bar­isan Nasional (BN) component parties.

LDP is led by former Senator Datuk Chin Su Phin and PBS is headed by Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili who left BN after Sabah government fell in the last general election.

These two parties remained in the opposition camp.

Wong retained the Sandakan seat for a second term in the last election when he polled 19,094 in a straight fight against Barisan’s candidate Lim Ming Hoo (from LDP) who obtained 8,996 votes.

Wong first won the seat for DAP in 2013 when he defeated then LDP president Datuk V.K. Liew, who later joined Warisan and won the neighbouring Batu Sapi parliament seat in 2018.

Wong died from a heart attack shortly after joining a hike at an adventure park in Putatan near here on Thursday. He will be buried in his hometown in Sandakan on Monday.

His body was flown back to Sandakan early Saturday for a two-day wake service at the San Fook Hin Funeral parlour until Sunday.

On Monday, his body will be brought to Sandakan Tiong Hua Secondary School multi-purpose hall for a public memorial service at 8am before being buried at the Sandakan Christian Burial Ground.