KOTA KINABALU:
Sabah Barisan Nasional’s (BN) new faces who contested for the first time in the general election have had a good showing as 20 out of 21 of them won in their respective constituencies. The one who lost was Chin Tek Ming from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), to DAP candidate Hiew King Chiew for the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat. Out of the 20 seats won by the new faces, eight were with bigger majorities than in the 2004 general election. Their commendable performance has contributed to BN’s two-thirds majority in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly. For example, Abdul Mijul Unaini who contested the Banggi state seat managed to have a 2,074-vote majority compared with 392 obtained by the incumbent in 2004. In Tanjong Kapor, BN candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Teo Chee Kang, won the seat by 3,519 votes compared with the 2,993-vote majority obtained by BN in 2004. The majority votes for BN’s new face for the Matunggong state seat, Sarapin Magana, also increased to 2,982 from 1,274 in 2004. Another new face, Donald Peter Mojuntin from the United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko), who contested the Moyog state seat, won with a majority of 2,685 votes compared with 2,568 gained in 2004. For the Sindumin state seat, BN’s new face was Umno’s Ahmad Bujang who upped the majority votes to 1,904 from 1,668 in 2004. Ellron Angin from Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), who BN fielded for the Sook state seat, also did well, gaining a majority of 2,131 votes compared .with the 395 majority votes obtained by Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, also from BN, in 2004. Nilwan Kabang, from Umno, managed to increase the majority votes to 4,115 from 1,923 in 2004 for the Kunak state seat. Umno’s Datuk Ramlee Marhaban, another new face fielded by Sabah BN, won the Bugaya seat uncontested on nomination day. The other new faces who won but with lesser majority votes than in 2004 were for the Tandek, Kuamut, Sukau, Sulabayan, Merotai, Tanjong Batu and Sebatik state seats. BN’s new faces for the Silam parliamentary seat, Salleh Kalbi, and for the Sandakan seat, Datuk Liew Vui Keong, also won in the just concluded general election with majority votes of 9,792 and 176 respectively. - Bernama
