KOTA KINABALU: It will be a baptism of fire for Arastam Im Pandorog when he makes his election debut as a Pakatan Harapan candidate in Semporna in the 15th General Election (GE15).
This is because Semporna is considered a bastion for Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who has held the parliamentary seat for six terms since 1995.
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Besides Semporna, Arastam was also named his party’s candidate to stand in the by-election for the Bugaya state seat.
The Semporna PKR division vice-chief remains undaunted by the task entrusted to him by the Pakatan leadership.
He described himself as a party loyalist who has been with the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led party since its early days in 1998.
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On his chances going up against a former chief minister, the 60-year-old businessman said: “Of course, people will predict (I will have a tough time). But I wouldn’t be surprised if a previous feat such as Datuk Kadoh Agundong defeating Tan Sri Harris Salleh were to take place again.
“Who knows, there could be a repeat of this in Semporna on Nov 19.”
He was referring to Kadoh, who passed away in June this year, who unseated Harris, the then powerful chief minister of the Berjaya state government, in 1985.
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Arastam claimed Shafie had not managed to bring proper development to Semporna despite being its elected representative for more than 25 years.
“What has he done after so long? We will bring about change in Semporna (if we win the seat),” he said.
Arastam was named as candidate on Monday (Oct 31), the first to be named by any party to contest in Semporna so far.
Shafie has yet to announce that he will defend the seat but it is widely speculated that he will do so in the coming days.
