KOTA KINABALU: It's all systems go for Gabungan Rakyat Sabah's (GRS) Tuaran candidate Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, with Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor ensuring a multi-party election machinery is in place.
Two mainly Muslim majority state seats of Sulaman and Pantai Dalit within the Tuaran constituency have been mobilised involving both Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and Barisan's Umno to work for Bangkuai's win.
Two other state seats making up Tuaran are Kadazandusun based Tamparuli and Kiulu, which are both held by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
Bangkuai, who is the Kiulu assemblyman, is expected to face off against incumbent Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, the Upko president.
GRS and Barisan want to wrest the Tuaran seat from Madius, who is seen as a Barisan traitor because of his decision to pull Upko out of the coalition to forge a coalition with Parti Warisan and Pakatan Harapan hours after 2018 GE results.
The two heavyweights are expected to be challenged by former beauty queen Joanna Rampas from Warisan in the fight for the semi-rural seat that stretches from the foothills of Mount Kinabalu to the coast of Tuaran.
Bangkuai defeated Madius by over a 1,200 vote majority for the Kiulu state seat in the 2020 snap Sabah elections, while in the 2018 general election, Bangkuai defeated Joanna by 1,443 votes to retain his Kiulu seat he first won in 2013.
Hajiji said he will work very hard to ensure the GRS candidate wins comfortably in the 15th General Election here.
Speaking at the gathering with Tuaran Umno and Tuaran Bersatu divisions leaders at Dewan Seri Sulaman near here, Hajiji said the decision to field Bangkuai was made in the interests of the constituents.
GRS was formed on an understanding that it was time for all to work together to develop Sabah, he said.
"We must not repeat past mistakes. There was too much politicking that the responsibility to develop the state was not carried out," he said.
The Chief Minister added that the reason that Sabah is the second poorest state in Malaysia despite having so much resources was due to too much political bickering.
"So it is time that we stop these political bickering and concentrate on developing the state instead," he said.
