KINABATANGAN: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) candidate for the Lamag seat, Johainizamshah Johari (pic), has vowed to continue development efforts in the constituency if given the mandate in the 17th Sabah Election.
He said one of his key priorities is to ensure the continued development of Bandar Baru Seri Milian - a government-led project launched in August last year with an estimated cost of around RM300mil.
He said the new township, which will be built with Chinese technology and include a 13-storey hotel and 394 other buildings, is expected to be completed in phases over eight to 15 years and create about 2,000 job opportunities.
Johainizamshah said once the new township is completed, Kinabatangan’s status could be upgraded from a district council to a municipal council. However, he voiced concern that the project may stall if GRS failed to secure the mandate in the state polls.
Nevertheless, he said he was confident the people of Lamag are ready for change and will choose a leader who can better champion youth voices, adding that GRS was the only coalition capable of guaranteeing a prosperous future for young people.
The former Lamag Community Development leader said the people wanted a young leader who was energetic, competent and productive in carrying out development agendas in the area.
"I believe that in this state election, the people here will choose the GRS candidate and spring a surprise in this constituency. I do not rule out the possibility of GRS winning the Lamag seat based on feedback gathered on the ground throughout the campaign trail,” the 39-year-old told Bernama.
He said during GRS’s three years of administration in Lamag, 442 land grants were issued under the Sabah Native Land Survey Special Programme (Pantas), apart from the construction of Sama Maju Jaya (SMJ) homes.
As a young candidate, he continues to adopt the traditional house-to-house campaigning to directly understand the needs of the people, saying it resonates more with voters.
"At the start of the campaign, I targeted to meet 3,000 voters face-to-face and so far, I have surpassed that target,” he said.
On the use of entertainment-based campaigning, Johainizamshah said it only offers temporary amusement and is not the most effective method to secure the support of young voters.
"Youths today are different from before. They are smarter in distinguishing between what truly matters and what does not. Therefore, our main focus is to ensure their future is secure,” he said.
Polling is Saturday (Nov 29) to elect 73 representatives to the state assembly.- Bernama
