KINABATANGAN: Leaders of Barisan Nasional and Parti Warisan are making their final push for their candidates in the 48 hours before Saturday's Kinabatangan parliamentary and Lamag state by-elections.
Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi arrived Wednesday (Jan 21) to join the campaign to defend the two seats held by former Sabah Umno chairman, the late Datuk Bung Moktar Radin since 1999.
Seen as Umno's last stronghold since the fall of the 25-year rule of the Barisan state government in 2018, Barisan candidate Mohd Naim Kurniawan Moktar for Kinabatangan and Mohd Ismail Ayob @Miha have been on an intense ground campaign in a relatively quiet election mood in this east coast district.
Ahmad Zahid is expected to meet with people during official functions in Kinabatangan town as well as head into remote Kg Imbak in Tongod over the next 48 hours.
Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal is scheduled to arrive Thursday (Jan 22) for his second trip into this east coast Sabah district. He is set to give the final push for Datuk Saddi Abdu Rahman in Kinabatangan and Mazliwati Abdul Malek in Lamag before the campaign ends at midnight Friday (Jan 23).
Unlike most campaigns, ceramah are fewer as candidates reach out to voters house-to-house and through walkabouts in the state's largest parliamentary constituency. The distance between areas, stretching from the upper reaches of the Kinabatangan river to the Sulu sea, is a daunting task.
A mix of sealed, muddy and gravel roads between villages spread distances apart and a six-hour boat trip to reach about 800 voters in the Kuamut area remains the biggest challenge for the candidates and their teams to reach all 48,764 voters.
"It is logistically not possible to reach all the voters. We focus on the bigger polling districts to reach out to voters," said Warisan vice-president Terrence Siambun, whose team has been carrying out focused campaigns in the tough hilly terrains of Tongod.
"Just the Kuamut area is about 400km from one end to the other," he said, adding that reaching Kuamut was only possible by boat, costing about RM1,000 from urban Kota Kinabatangan.
Most candidates are moving on tight schedules in four-wheel drive vehicles while party teams work separately in the various polling districts. Kinabatangan comprises three state constituencies: Kuamut, Lamag and Sukau.
Independent candidate for Kinabatangan, Goldam Hamid's campaign presence has hardly been seen, with only a few posters in Tongod and very few in Lamag and Sukau compared to the Barisan and Warisan flags seen in most of the 27 polling districts.
