Setting up: Preparations for the by-elections in full swing ahead of Nomination Day. — Bernama
KINABATANGAN: Sabah’s largest parliamentary seat Kinabatangan, nearly half the size of Pahang, is heading into election mode barely two months after the Nov 29 state polls.
At stake is also the Lamag state seat left vacant following the death of its incumbent Sabah Barisan Nasional/Umno chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin on Dec 5.
Bung Moktar’s son, 31-year-old Naim Kurniawan is due to file nomination papers for Kinabatangan today, carrying the Barisan flag to defend the seat held by his father for six terms since 1999.
He is expected to face former Sukau assemblyman Datuk Saddi Abdul Rahman, 67, from Parti Warisan for the Barisan-Umno stronghold seat. Observers view this is as another clash between a national and local party.
The spotlight is also on the parties within the newly formed Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition government led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and whether they will close ranks and work together at the grassroots level to back Barisan candidates after a bitter fight during the state election.
Independents, like lawyer Goldam Hamid, are expected to join the race.
For the Lamag by-election, Sabah Barisan has picked youth activist Mohd Ismail Ayob @Miha, who contested as an Independent in the state election where he lost his bid to unseat Bung Moktar by 153 votes.
Miha, 46, is likely to face off Warisan supreme council member Mazliwati Abdul Malek Chua, 53, the daughter of former Kuamut assemblyman, the late Datuk Abdul Malek Chua.
Sabah UiTM lecturer Tony Paridi Bagang and Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Assoc Prof Dr Lee Kuok Tiung are of the view Barisan has the upper hand and the sympathy factor.
However, both agreed that the by-elections will test the newly forged unity government of GRS-Pakatan-Barisan-Upko and its other partners – Sabah STAR, Parti KDM and PAS – as well five Independents that came in to back Hajiji’s coalition government following the hung state election results.
The results of both by-elections will not affect the strength or position of the state and federal governments in the state assembly and Parliament respectively.
For the electorate, there is an air of fatigue as they had just voted in an election a month ago.
“I don’t think people are excited to vote this time round because it will not make much difference. The government has been formed,” said Lamag voter Akmal Hakim yesterday.
He added that he would go ahead and cast his vote but he admitted that outstation voters are unlikely to come back to vote due to the cost.
For housewife Rosni Mohammad, 52, election fever hasn’t set in yet.
“We don’t feel it. It seems very quiet,” she said, adding that she would vote though there was a general feeling of indifference among some of her friends in the two constituencies.
Issues concerning access roads, water and electricity are among the issues expected to be raised.
State-federal relations and matters concerning the 40% state revenue rights are expected to drive the campaign, too.
Kinabatangan, which comprises three state seats – Kuamut, Lamag and Sukau – spans from Sabah’s central Tongod district in the upper reaches of Kinabatangan River to Sulu Sea in the eastern coastline.
A total of 48,722 people are eligible to vote for the dual elections that will see 1,106 election personnel deployed to 36 polling centres with 117 polling streams, as well as one early voting centre for both by-elections.
