Wednesday, January 1, 2020

As expected, BN picks ex-state rep to contest Kimanis



KIMANIS POLL | BN is fielding its former Bongawan assemblyperson Mohamad Alamin as its candidate for the Kimanis parliamentary seat by-election on Jan 18.
In making the announcement, Sabah BN chairperson Bung Moktar Radin said the 47-year-old was picked after a survey conducted seeking the people's views on the best candidate to represent BN.
Mohamad (above), who is also Kimanis Umno chief, won the Bongawan state seat in the 2013 general election but failed to retain the seat in 2018 polls.
He attributed his past defeat to his bad luck in 2018 polls.

"I am no stranger in Membakut (another state seat under Kimanis). I hold a position in the party and I often meet the members and the people but this is not the issue," he said.
"Due to the small mistakes (in the past) and (the voters being) influenced by sweet promises as well as my lack of luck, I lost," he said.
Mohamad was defeated by Warisan with a majority of 795 votes in 14th general election despite won comfortably with 3,395 majority votes.
Mohamad's father is a Kadazan Dusun while his mother is a Bruneian Malay.
Kimanis is a semi-urban seat comprising 63.16 percent Muslim bumiputera, 30.67 percent non-Muslim bumiputra, 3.59 percent Chinese and 2.58 percent others.
Mohamad is a lawyer based in Kota Kinabalu, 60km away from Kimanis. He was appointed as Kimanis Umno chief this year after Anifah Aman quit the party. 
A Warisan source told Malaysiakini that two leaders in the Kimanis Warisan division are also eyeing to contest in the by-election.
One of them is Kimanis Warisan division chief Karim Bujang who filed an election petition after he was defeated by Anifah in the 2018 general election.
The other potential candidate is Daud Yusuf, the incumbent Bongawan state assemblyperson and the Sabah assistant minister for agriculture and food industries.
The Warisan, Umno and BN offices in Kimanis
Daud is the Kimanis Warisan division information chief.
Bongawan is one of two state seats under Kimanis.
At the time of publication, a source told Malaysiakini that Warisan has yet to decide on when to announce its candidate for Kimanis.
The New Straits Times today quoted Karim as denying speculation that Bersatu still wanted to stand in Kimanis.
Meanwhile, Sabah Bersatu deputy chief Masidi Manjun said the party had decided to make way for Warisan to contest in Kimanis. 
Anifah won the Kimanis seat by a slim 156-vote majority in the 14th general election last year.
On Dec 2, the Federal Court upheld the Election Court's ruling to nullify Anifah's victory in the Kimanis parliamentary seat due to irregularities.
The Kimanis by-election will be held on Jan 18. Nomination day is on Jan 4 with early voting on Jan 14. - Mkini

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