KINABATANGAN: With a week left to polling, by-election campaigns in Kinabatangan and Lamag are seeing rival camps move beyond introductions and begin pressing voters with competing visions of change, continuity and delivery.
After a largely low-key opening, ground activity has picked up across villages and settlements scattered over the vast constituency, with candidates aware that undecided voters could prove decisive in the Jan 24 polls.
Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, who spent the weekend campaigning alongside the party’s candidates, claimed voters in Lamag and Kinabatangan are increasingly vocal about wanting change.
“We must work harder and not be complacent. What we fight for must be in line with what the people want,” he said at a meet-and-greet programme in Lamag.
Shafie said concerns raised by residents continue to centre on job opportunities for young people, basic infrastructure, education and healthcare, as well as access to water and electricity.
“In the peninsula, people rarely talk about water or electricity shortages. Here, these are still real issues,” he said.
Although Warisan did not form the Sabah government, Shafie said the party’s presence at federal level allowed it to raise state issues in Parliament and seek priority for areas he described as being more in need than many parts of Peninsular Malaysia.
Beyond infrastructure, he also pointed to smaller-scale economic opportunities that could generate jobs, citing agriculture and eco-tourism as sectors that could be developed with better coordination and federal support.
On the other side of the contest, Barisan Nasional has rolled out its manifesto for Lamag, themed “Lamag Wajah Baharu”, as campaigning enters its final stretch.
The manifesto outlines seven pledges including improving roads, water, electricity and Internet access, developing affordable housing and strengthening tourism and entrepreneurship.
The coalition also pledges to explore the development of Bandar Seri Milian as a growth centre as well as incentives aimed at supporting youth, including assistance for education and newly married couples.
Barisan’s Lamag candidate Mohd Ismail Ayob said with seven days to go, the campaign will focus on door-to-door visits and small-scale engagements in villages.
He said coordination with Kinabatangan parliamentary candidate Mohd Naim Kurniawan Moktar was ongoing, despite logistical challenges posed by the size of the constituency, which often requires candidates to cover distant areas separately.
“Our manifesto direction is the same. The issues we raise are issues we have discussed together,” he said, dismissing talk of disunity between the two Barisan candidates.
Ismail said Barisan was adopting a more relaxed and inclusive campaign approach in the final week, aimed at engaging voters across age groups, particularly young people, without losing sight of policy messaging.
