The road to Kimanis - local issues, not national

KIMANIS POLLS | Local matters, not national issues, are going to provide the key as to which way voters will swing in the Kimanis by-election.

Residents of the semi-rural parliamentary seat, located just 55km from the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu, told Malaysiakini that better infrastructure and job opportunities were their foremost priorities.

Irod Laurince, a 57-year-old farmer from the Sinuka village, said while there is a major road linking the town to other areas in Kimanis, there are very few tarred roads linking nearby villages.

"In Kimanis, we have more than 150 kampungs that are either not connected by tarred road to the main road or the roads are only partially covered by tar," he said.

"I think less than 30 percent of the kampung roads are tarred," he said, adding that the roads are mainly covered by rocks and dirt.

This included his own kampung in Sinuka, he added, saying that this problem was common in other places in Sabah too.

Irod (above), who was met at a coffee shop in Membakut town, is a member of United Progressive People of Kinabalu Organisation (Upko), formerly aligned to Musa Aman's governing coalition but which is now part of the state government with Warisan.

"We have a total of 54 voters in our families. I believe they will vote for Warisan candidate Karim Bujang," he said.

Besides tarred roads, Irod said Kimanis needed an institution for further studies such as a university, a college or a vocational college so that children don't have to go outstation to Kota Kinabalu or other cities after finishing their schooling.

He urged the government to turn it into a township with ample job opportunities and tertiary education institutions being established so that the children no longer have to study outstation or overseas.

Senior citizen Gais Jaafar, an 84-year-old voter in Binsulok, admits to still being undecided on who to vote for.

He voted for BN in GE14 and has no regret in supporting BN all this while, but he said that after the change of government, Warisan was also good in its delivery.

"The Warisan government has given us whatever we have applied for. I like both Warisan and BN candidates," revealed Gais.  

Esther Paul (above), a 35-year-old homemaker in Sinuka, was another who called for proper roads.

Esther conceded she tends to follow the trends of fellow villagers, and since most of the people in Sinuka voted for Warisan, she also supported Warisan.

Despite this, the mother of five found BN's Mohamad Alamin, whose father is a Kadazandusun Murut, to be approachable.

She said Mohamad, who once arrived in the kampung to attend a pre-Christmas function, spoke the language of her mother tongue and immediately drew her attention.

Esther said that she had only seen Karim from afar during the election campaign despite him being a five-term Bongawan state assemblyperson, but noted that Karim had visited the school near her kampung.

While some voters expressed unhappiness over the lack of infrastructure, Carol Gugkang (above) gave a thumbs-up to the Warisan government, which she said had taken good care of her home in Kampung Ovai.

"In March 2019, we asked for a water pipe to replace our decades-old pipe. A pipeline that was a few kilometres long was built last month," said the 40-year-old resort manager.

"The government also gave water tanks to poor families at Kampung Ovai," she said.

"For the future, the government agreed to build a community hall but the allocation will only be channelled here in March," added Carol, who said that she did not look at national issues.

For these reasons, she personally gave the Warisan government's performance an 80 percent rating, adding that she would continue to support Warisan.

However, Membakut grocery shop owner Chua Fu Chai, 52, was not so happy, adding that he was thinking of not voting this time.

Hs said this would be a protest against the Pakatan Harapan government, which performed badly and failed to fulfil its 2018 general election manifesto.

Chua said life has been tough for traditional sundry shop owners due to the influx of retail chain outlets.

"Nobody believes me when I say that my shop has suffered a loss for the past five years," he lamented.

Chua said he had lost hope and wanted all four of his children to pursue their careers elsewhere and never come back to Sabah.

This echoed the words of Irod, who had earlier said that almost all of his 11 siblings find a better career overseas or in other towns in Malaysia.

"Only I stayed back to operate the 15-acre family farm in Sinuka. Ten acres of them are rubber estate and five acres of them are oil palm," he said, adding that he had applied unsuccessfully several times in the past to a federal government initiative to replace dilapidated houses with new ones.

Mohd Hilmi Hassan, a 31-year-old fisherman from the village of Binsuluk said he would vote for BN as the previous administration helped the locals a lot compared to the present government.

He said that the previous government helped villagers when their fishing nets were torn.

Tay Jock Liang (above), a 58-year-old retiree and Umno member who worked for former Kimanis MP Anifah Aman in the past, unsurprisingly said he would support BN's Mohamad Alamin.

Despite noting there is still a need to improve infrastructures and facilities, Tay said the situation was worse before Anifah became Kimanis MP in 2004.

It was during Anifah's time that the main roads that connected the town to the rural heartland were properly built and tarred, he said.

"We now have a fire-and-rescue station in Kimanis and we have community halls in the kampungs," he said, adding that was also built during Anifah's time.

He also said that electricity and water supply in many parts of Kimanis had been upgraded after Anifah became MP. - Mkini