KOTA KINABALU: Former chief minister Yong Teck Lee has challenged DAP to make new Sandakan MP Vivian Wong a minister either at the state or federal level so she can fulfil Pakatan Harapan’s promises made in the by-election.
Yong said this would enable the freshly-elected Vivian to spearhead a special council to return Sandakan to its glory days, as mooted by DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang three days before the by-election.
According to Lim, the council, which wiil come up with an integrated plan to revive the town, will be led by Vivian, if she wins by a big margin.
“It would be an impossible task for an ordinary MP, and a fresh one at that, to chair a high-powered committee of ministers, civil servants and business and community leaders.
“DAP should do the proper thing by nominating the new MP as a minister in the Sabah Cabinet or, better still, in the federal Cabinet.
“How else does Lim expect a new, backbencher MP to have the influence needed to convince other ministers to mobilise government departments to design new policies and to gain the confidence of the business community?” he said in a statement today.
Lim had said members of the special council would include both federal and state ministers, who would be given the task to come up with an integrated plan to revive Sandakan.
He added the council would also provide ideas on such issues as tourism, infrastructure, electricity, water, health and local government.
Yong also told PH to get down to work immediately and not offer any excuses after the win in Sandakan, saying the people expected all the “fantastic promises” made to be fulfilled without any delay.
“After the last general election, PH had given the excuse that their GE14 manifesto in 2018 could not be fulfilled because they did not expect to win last year’s general election.
“But, in the case of the Sandakan by-election, PH is already in government and has full knowledge of both the government’s resources and constraints,” said the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president.
Yong said top on the minds of Sabahans is Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s announcement of RM2.28 billion worth of development funds for Sandakan four days before nomination day.
He added DAP had reinforced this promise with colourful campaign leaflets.
“The Sabah economy, including that of Sandakan, would be able to take off if the Sabah government has more funds for development.
“Therefore, it is long overdue for the finance minister to fulfil his promise to Sabahans to return to Sabah the tax revenues collected in Sabah and 20% of oil royalties,” he said.
Vivian, who obtained 16,012 votes, brushed aside the challenge from her closest rival, PBS’ Linda Tsen, who secured 4,491 votes, winning with a majority of 11,521 votes.
The independent candidates fared poorly. Hamzah Abdullah collected 788 votes, Chia Siew Yung garnered 178 votes while Sulaiman Abdul Samat obtained 126 votes.
This vote-majority for Vivian was higher than the victory achieved by her late father, Stephen Wong, registered in the May 9 general polls last year, when he defeated Lim Ming Hoo (BN-LDP) by 10,098 votes to become MP.
‘DAP won in all polling districts in Sandakan’
Meanwhile, Guan Eng, in a statement, said DAP was shocked by the landslide victory in Sandakan, adding despite a steep 18% drop in the voter turnout in this by-election compared to GE14, Vivian still created history with the largest winning majority in Sandakan electoral history.
Further, he said, DAP won for the first time in all polling districts in Sandakan. This included postal votes in Pulau Berhala and Kampung Sim Sim, which usually go to BN.
This victory shows the people’s confidence and support for the political combination of Warisan, DAP and PH in Sabah, he said.
Guan Eng outlined six reasons for the win, namely the full confidence and support for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad; support for Chief Minister Shafie Apdal; rejection of the previous “corrupt and kleptocratic” government; the vigorous DAP electoral machinery, strongly supported by Warisan and PH parties; development projects for Sandakan; and the good work of the previous MP, Stephen Wong. - FMT
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