The following analysis by veteran political watcher Teddy Chin is a continuation from yesterday. The last few constituencies appear tomorrow.
P180 KENINGAU
THIS is a four-way battle between incumbent Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan (GRS-Star), Datuk Jake Nointin (KDM), Rasinin Koutis (Warisan) and Grelydia Gillod (Harapan).
In 2018, Dr Jeffrey won with a very slim majority of only 45 votes. Who was the ‘Near-Giant Killer’ then? You guessed it, he was Jake Jointin, except that he was then a Warisan candidate. Jeffrey then polled 13,286 votes and Jake’s 13,241 votes.
If he has the making of a Giant Killer, why then wasn’t he fielded by Warisan again? That you have to ask Warisan and Jake. In politics anything can happen. One possible answer may be that Jake stood as an Independent against the Warisan candidate Rasinin in 2020. From left: Arthur, Dr Sangkor, Kiandee and Benedict
Anyway, on paper at least Jeffrey should have no problem in defending Keningau with a comfortable majority this time round. This is because in 2018 he also had to face Datuk Daniel Kinsik of PBS who managed 12,742 votes. This time round, both Star and PBS are in GRS and PBS is not fielding any candidate.
The new Warisan candidate replacing Jake is former Liawan Assemblyman Rasinin. He was the Liawan Assemblyman when Warisan+ was the government. The former Assistant Minister however lost it to Star in 2020 by 641 votes.
In 2018, Rasinin polled 6,387 votes to beat his nearest rival from BN-Umno by 1,382 votes in Liawan, one of the State seats under Keningau. Others are Bingkor and Tambunan. Liawan covers Keningau town.
I can’t comment on the Harapan candidate Greylydia as I do not know anything about her.
P181 TENOM
THIS Interior town sees a five-cornered fight between incumbent Noorita Sual (PH-DAP), Jamawi Jaafar (BN-Umno), Ukim Buandi (Warisan) and two Independents – Riduan Rubin and Peggy Chaw.
In 2018, Noorita, a lawyer, created history when she won the first seat for DAP in a KDM and Interior area. Against all odds, being a newcomer she can also be described as a Giant Killer as she defeated among others veteran politician and long-time Kemabong Assemblyman Datuk Rubin Balang. She is also the first lady MP for Tenom. From left: Suhaimi, Sharif, Alias and Khairul
In 2018, she polled 11,363 votes while Rubin obtained 10,230 votes, a difference of 1,133 votes.
It was second time lucky for Noorita as in 2013, in her election debut she lost. She stood on a DAP ticket in the State seat of Melalap and lost to PBS’ Datuk Radin Malleh. She polled 1,992 votes compared to Radin’s 4,643 votes. At that time the anti-BN sentiments were not high yet.
Jamawi has been a Tenom Umno Youth leader for quite sometime ever since BN was still the State government. Whenever there was an election his name would crop up as a potential candidate. This was because he was known to have good connections in Umno headquarters.
His chance finally came in 2018 when Rubin opted to go for a Parliamentary seat instead. Jamawi won in Kemabong with a majority of 895. His nearest rival was from Bersatu who polled 5,198 votes.
In the 2020 State election, Jamawi moved to the neighbouring seat of Melalap, making way of party colleague the former Tenom MP Raime Unggi in Kemabong. Both he and Raime lost. In Melalap the winner was Warisan’s Datuk Peter Anthony while in Kemabong Datuk Rubin Balang who stood as an Independent won. Rubin and Raime are related.
As for Warisan candidate Ukim Buandi I don’t know much about his background, except that his brother Stanis Buandi is a senior leader in PBS and is helping the GRS-BN candidate.
Independent Peggy Chaw, I was told, was a last-minute stand-in for her father whose candidacy faced some technical problems. I don’t know anything about her nor her father.
Now we come to the other candidate, Riduan. I was told that during the first week of the campaign, the fight was between DAP and BN-GRS. However, as the campaign entered second week, they could no longer ignore Riduan.
This is because out of the blue Riduan was accepted as a KDM member. Although KDM cannot campaign for him using the KDM name or logo, the party has mobilised its machinery to campaign for him as an Independent.
This is unexpected and a game-changer as now votes which might have gone to KDM president Datuk Peter Anthony would now go to Riduan. This is certainly a welcome development and a boost for Riduan. Don’t underestimate Peter as in 2018 he defeated former Minister Datuk Radin Malleh.
Another plus point for Riduan is he is son of Datuk Rubin. Why is he in the race and whether the father wanted to avenge his 2018 defeat to DAP, we don’t know. What we do know is that it was not convenient for Rubin himself to contest as Tenom was given to GRS ally BN. Rubin is in GRS through Bersatu.
Sabah Umno wants action to be taken against Rubin, accusing him of being behind his son’s candidacy, something which Rubin has denied. Bung said Rubin even accompanied his son to the Nomination Centre and at the KDM office.
GRS chairman and CM Hajiji said before any action can be taken a full investigation needs to be carried out.
With this latest development, Riduan is suddenly one of the strong contenders apart from DAP and BN/Umno. His rallies are now well-attended. Will he be able to repeat his father’s feat? We will know soon.
P182 PENSIANGAN
THIS is a 5-way fight between incumbent Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup (BN-PBRS), Jamani Derimin (Pejuang), Siti Noorhasmawatty Osman (Warisan), Jekerison Kilan (KDM) and Dr Sangkar Rasam (PH).
In 2018, Arthur who is PBRS deputy president won with a majority of 2,314 votes also on a BN ticket. The son of PBRS president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup polled 11,783 votes against his closest rival Raymond Ahuar of PKR who got 9,469 votes, not bad for an Opposition candidate at that time.
2018 was of course the year that PH beat BN at the federal level and Warisan+ at the state level. After victory the then Sabah PKR chief Datuk Christina Liew became a Minister and Raymond, a long time PKR member, was made her Political Secretary.
So Arthur became an Opposition MP after the 2018 election. But not for long. After the PH government collapsed in March 2020 and Tan Sri Muhyiddin became PM, Arthur was made a Deputy Minister. He maintained his position after Ismail Sabri replaced Muhyiddin as PM in August 2021.
Arthur must have been the youngest Deputy Minister if not youngest MP. He replaced his father as Pensiangan MP.
I don’t know much about Jamani and Siti. Jekerison is a former Sabah footballer who was active in the 90s. He ever played for Negeri Sembilan. He is now head of the KDM party for Nabawan.
Dr Sangkar is a former academician-turned-politician. The previously unknown PhD holder started to attract attention when he was appointed Sabah PKR chief earlier this year replacing Datuk Christina Liew.
His appointment by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim raised eyebrows within the party. It resulted in senior Sabah PKR leader John Ghani resigning from the party. John is standing in Beaufort as an Independent candidate against among others a PH candidate.
But Christina was retained as Sabah PH chief and she seems to have no problem with Sangkar replacing her. In fact, they are working closely.
Will Sangkar, a pure Murut, be able to unseat Arthur? On paper and based on the 2018 results, the answer is no. But it must be remembered that in 2018 PKR did not do too badly either.
And then there is a catch here. There are rumours that many GRS members or supporters may try to sabotage by either voting for Sangkar or not going to vote at all.
This may be in retaliation against the fact that PBRS fielded Datuk Ewon Ebin in Ranau despite the fact that the district was given to GRS-Bersatu.
To be fair to PBRS, I understand that Joseph or Arthur did message Ewon on the morning of Nomination to urge him not to contest.
But Ewon only read the message after his papers were filed, so says PBRS’ version of the story.
Whether or not this explanation is acceptable to GRS supporters in Pensiangan remains to be seen. In the 2020 election, all three State constituencies under Pensiangan were won by GRS. In fact, it was based on this argument that GRS tries to lobby for Pensiangan but BN got to represent the MP seat. If the GRS supporters are not satisfied, especially now that they are being ‘sabotaged’ in Ranau….You get the picture.
In conclusion, how much influence Dr Sangkar has in Pensiangan also remains to be seen.
But Arthur is no pushover either. He is a lawyer and has two years’ experience as a Deputy Minister now. He has been Deputy Works Minister for the past one year and he certainly made good use of this position to help all three State seats under Pensiangan. I am assuming that he did that.
The last time that Joseph contested in Pensiangan before handing over to Arthur was in 2013 when he won with a majority of 1,744 votes. His closest rival was Datuk Dr Richard Gunting of PKR who polled 7,723 votes. Tan Sri also served as a Deputy Minister in the Federal Government. Before that he was a Minister in Sabah when he was still a Datuk.
P183 BELURAN
THIS is a 5-way fight between incumbent Datuk Dr Ronald Kiandee (PN), Benedict Asmat (BN), Rowiena Rasid (Warisan), Hausing Samsudin (Pejuang) and Felix Joseph Saang (PH).
In 2018, Kiandee won the seat on a BN-Umno ticket with a majority of 7,115 votes. He polled 13,007 votes to beat his nearest rival, Dr Japar Zairun of Warisan who got 5,892 votes.
Therefore, on paper at least, Kiandee should have no problem retaining the seat which he held for a few terms. However, that was 2018. This is 2022.
In 2018, Kiandee’s BN votes were solid which explains his 13,007 votes. This time round, he is no longer standing on a BN ticket. He is instead standing on a PN ticket and facing a BN candidate among others. Meaning the votes are now split.
The BN candidate is somebody else – Benedict Asmat, the former President of the Sandakan Municipal Council who is also a local from Beluran and just like Kiandee is a graduate. More importantly, just like Kiandee he is a Christian too.
How this situation came about in Beluran has been allocated to BN-Umno to contest. BN and GRS are coalition partners. Kiandee is vice-president of Bersatu, the main player in GRS.
Not being satisfied, Kiandee approached Muhyiddin, president of Chairman of Perikatan Nasional (PN), the ‘Parent Company’ of Bersatu of which Muhyiddin is also President. Muhyiddin issued a Letter of Consent for Kiandee to contest under the PN symbol, thus avoiding the GRS symbol.
Whether this is right or wrong is not for me to say. All I can say is that this is definitely something unexpected which took everybody by surprise. In other words, Kiandee used the shortcut method, or a By-Pass, if you like. Some even called it ‘Beautiful Tactic’.
Muhyiddin, in siding with Kiandee, said that Sabah CM and GRS chairman Hajiji should perhaps not ‘sacrificed’ Kiandee whom is a party vice-president of which Hajiji himself is a ‘branch manager’.
Hajiji replied that “this is Sabah politics so let us do it our way”. The Beluran incident can perhaps be described as an ‘unhealthy precedent’ but what has been done cannot be undone. My only comment is don’t underestimate Hajiji. He is also a veteran in politics, having been a YB since 1990.
What will happen after the election remains interesting….
Sabah Umno and BN chief Bung Moktar made a brilliant tactical move when he nominated Benedict as a candidate. He said and I quote, Beluran Umno is unique whereby for decades its BN MP has been a non-Muslim or Christian, meaning Kiandee.
Ever since Kiandee dumped Umno for Bersatu 3 years ago, the Beluran Umno new chief, a Muslim lady, has been working hard to promote herself as the candidate.
After the dissolution of Parliament, there was even a Mock Election with herself as the ‘candidate’, I think. She was also very vocal in not wanting Beluran to be given to PN/GRS/Bersatu.
But Bung did the right thing. Had he nominated her, that would give Kiandee’s side more bullets.
Now nobody can accuse him of being racialist or anti-Christian.
Can Benedict beat Kiandee? Well, I don’t want to play the part of God but for information Benedict is also a local from Beluran just like Kiandee. Just like Kiandee, he is also a graduate and a Christian.
His experience as a senior civil servant put him in good stead although he is new to politics. In fact, he resigned just before Bung officially announced him as the candidate. Just like Kiandee, he is known to be friendly and soft-spoken.
As for the PH candidate Felix, he is son of former PBS Assemblyman for Kuamut in the 80s and 90s, Joseph Sitin Saang. In the 2020 State election, Felix was one of the 11 Upko candidates who were defeated.
Standing in the new seat of Telupid, he polled 1,581 votes to lose to winner Jonnybone Kurum of PBS who got 2,266 votes.
This time round, he is standing on a PH (Harapan) ticket and the ball is round. Nobody can determine the results until the final whistle is blown. Upko is now a component of PH led by Anwar Ibrahim of PKR. As for Warisan’s Rowiena, I don’t know much about her. I only know that she is a lawyer and therefore should have no problem communicating with people.
I saw on YouTube when her party president went to Beluran to campaign for her recently. She could speak well. The crowd was reasonably big. Even former local assemblyman Datuk Tan Yong Gee was there to give her moral support.
So can Felix and Rowiena benefit from the split votes between Kiandee and Asmat? We will know shortly.
Beluran is by the sea and therefore is famous for its seafood. It is also an agricultural country with oil palm, rubber and cocoa plantations. Kiandee has been using his position as Federal Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry to his benefit for the past two years.
Every now and then we see news of him giving aid to fishermen and farmers in Beluran and its neighbor Paitan, Sugut, Telupid and so on. Whether this will translate into votes, we have to wait and see.
P184 LIBARAN
THIS sees a six-cornered fight which, just like Beaufort, does not include the incumbent.
The incumbent, Datuk Hj Zakaria Mohd Edris won it in 2018 with a 678-vote majority. He won it on a BN-Umno ticket but joined Bersatu in early 2019.
BN succeeded in getting Libaran back following negotiations with GRS. The BN candidate is Datuk Suhaimi Nasir who is also a Nominated Assemblyman. He heads Umno Libaran formerly held by Tan Sri Musa Aman.
The Warisan candidate is Sharif Bokrata. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about him. Neither do I know anything about the PRS (Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah) candidate Nordin Khani, nor Jeffri Amat Pudang of Pejuang or Independent Amdan Tumpong.
The Pakatan Harapan candidate, Dr Peter Jr Naintin, is an Upko leader in the Sandakan area. A self-made and purpose-driven man, he has been with Upko through thick and thin over the years.
His first degree is in Civil and Structural Engineering.
Then he has a Masters in Project Management and a PhD. He is also a Certified Financial Planner and Motivational Speaker.
But this is not Suhaimi’s debut. In the 2020 State election, he lost to Warisan’s Arunarsin Taib by only 269 votes. He polled 2,871 votes while Arunarsin got 3,140 votes.
Suhaimi’s consolation was GRS-BN formed the government after the election and he was appointed a Nominated Assemblyman. If he wins Libaran, he will be a ‘Double YB’.
P185 BATU SAPI
THIS is a five-cornered fight between PH, Pejuang, Warisan, GRS and an Independent.
The incumbent is Warisan’s Datuk Liew Vui Keong or popularly known as VK Liew. A lawyer and a former Federal Minister when PH was the government, he died early October 2020.
However, no by-election was held because of Covid-19.
To replace him, Warisan’s candidate in this election is Alias Sani who is also the Assemblyman for Sekong. Alias won Sekong in the 2020 State election. He polled 5,937 votes against his nearest rival, BN-Umno’s Hazulizah Mohd Dani who managed 4,338 votes.
The majority was 1,599 votes which was quite comfortable.
The reason why he was chosen again, I think, was he seems popular with the voters in the eyes of Warisan. I don’t know much about him except for the fact that he is a former teacher.
I also don’t know anything about the PH candidate Liaw Fui Fui, a young lady. Neither do I know about the Pejuang candidate, Boni Yusuf Juanico Abdullah. I therefore cannot write anything about them.
I only know a bit about the GRS-Bersatu candidate, Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan. For starters, he is the Information Chief of Bersatu Sabah and is therefore close to its chief Datuk Hajiji.
As Information Chief, Kahirul has been vocal for Bersatu Sabah since its early days and is therefore a familiar face with the local Press. I am not sure if he holds any government post except for the fact that he is a Board Member of Sawit Kinabalu whose chairman is the CM himself.
On top of that, he is son of former Batu Sapi MP Datuk Akbar Khan in the 90s. If he wins, he will literally carry on the father’s legacy.
P186 SANDAKAN
THIS is a 6-cornered fight between the incumbent Vivian Wong (PH-DAP), Warisan’s Alex Thien, GRS’ Thomas Lau, and three Independents – Lita Tan Abdullah, Peter Hii and Syeikh Lokeman.
Vivian won Sandakan in a by-election in May 2019 after her father Datuk Stephen Wong died. She won with a majority of 11,521 votes which was even higher than that of his father’s. She polled 16,012 votes against her closest rival, Datin Linda Tsen of PBS who got 4,491 votes.
Her father won it in 2018 with a 10,098-vote majority. Vivian and Thomas
He polled 19,094 votes against BN’s Datuk Lim Ming Hoo who got 8,996 votes in a straight fight.
In this election, two other candidates, Thomas Lau and Peter Hii had something to do with the Sandakan Municipal Council (MPS) in the past.
Thomas was a senior officer of MPS for a long time. His last post before he retired, I think, was as Deputy President or No.2 of the Council.
After retirement, he became active politically through SAPP and was made a Chinese Kapitan after the 2020 election. His experience in MPS will be useful if he gets elected.
The word Kapitan, I think, is a corruption of Captain, a title conferred on the Chinese community leader by the British.
Peter became President of MPS soon after Warisan+ came into power in 2018. His appointment then caused a lot of uneasiness among Sabahans as he was originally from a neighbouring State.
Anyway, the Warisan+ government did not renew his appointment after one year.
I don’t know much about the Independent and the Warisan candidate. I believe the Warisan candidate is a professional though.
So can Vivian defend her seat? The ball is round.
But Sandakan is normally anti-establishment ever since DAP won its first parliament seat there through Fung Ket Wing in 1978.
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