KOTA KINABALU: Ridicule and criticism is not stopping Sabah’s oldest election candidate from trying to win in the Keningau state seat of Bingkor that he is contesting.
Thomas Anggan, 86, a Dusun Gana native, said when he was named candidate for Parti Kebangsaan Sabah, people laughed at him, calling him old and asking him to rest instead of coming out to run for the election.
“I don’t think age matters much because I can still walk, I can think and I can certainly raise issues and bring development for the people of Bingkor,” said the former Parti Bersatu Sabah founding member.
He feels that with age, there is wisdom and with wisdom, there can be better hope for change, although he never won in all the times he contested in Bingkor since 1985.
Anggan, a former policeman, advised haters to be mindful, because nobody stays young forever, and what they say might come back to them later on in life.
He said if he recalled correctly, this would be his fourth attempt to take on the Bingkor seat that currently has over 31,000 registered voters now held by Datuk Robert Tawik (Sabah STAR).
“I never won, but it’s ok. Who knows this time I have a chance,” said the father of 10 who has more than 30 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
If he wins, Anggan wants to address issues of corruption, abuse of power, native land problems, and be part of the state government to fight for state rights.
For campaigns, he is depending a lot on his family, friends and supporters to reach people on the ground, while also making use of social media platforms in exchange of loudspeakers back in the day, to get messages across.
Bingkor is seeing a 10-cornered fight this round, where candidates comprise Kennedy John Angian of Upko, Benedict Martin Gunir of Parti Warisan, Robert Tawik’s son Rafie of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, Mohd Ishak Ayub of Sabah STAR and Niklos Ongoh of Parti KDM among others.
