KUNAK: Kunak Warisan Constituency Coordinator Kasim Ajirul has urged division leaders to unite and ensure party machinery remains united ahead of the 17th state election.
“While candidate selection should be left to the top leadership, grassroots opinions must be considered to ensure effective campaigning,” he said, Sunday.
“The nomination day is approaching. The party should focus on winning voters’ hearts,” he added.
Kasim said the chosen candidate must demonstrate strong principles and unwavering party loyalty, a clear reference to previous defections that cost Warisan the seat.
“If the election results do not favour us to form government, can we guarantee the winning candidate would not jump ship? This should be the primary consideration,” he said.
His concerns stem from past experience when Datuk Norazlinah Arif, who won the Kunak seat under Warisan in 2018 and 2020, defected to Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah under the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah in February 2023.
“We do not want a repeat of what happened before, where our winning candidate abandoned the party despite initially pledging loyalty,” Kasim said.
He added that potential candidates must be prepared to serve constituents independently, not just rely on party allocations, a dependency that often drives unprincipled representatives to defect to government parties.