Returning Officer Jupri Etok (middle) with Datuk Karim Bujang of Warisan (right) and Datuk Mohamad Alamin of Barisan Nasional after announcing them yesterday as the only candidates in the Kimanis by-election.
BEAUFORT: The Kimanis by-election will see a straight one-on-one contest between Parti Warisan Sabah’s (Warisan) Datuk Karim Bujang and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk Mohamad Alamin.
Returning Officer (RO) Jupri Etok announced the names of the candidates after nomination closed at 10.25 am here at Dewan Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Mohd Dun Banir, yesterday.
Mohamad was the first to submit his nomination papers at 9.07 am while Karim submitted his at 9.10 am.
Mohamad was accompanied by his proposer, Abd Rahim Jalani and seconder, Joseph Mojumi while Karim was accompanied by his proposer, Jaafar Ismail and his seconder, Odong @ Lawrence Odong Sodoi.
Early voting for the by-election will take place on January 14 followed by polling day which takes place on January 18.
Karim, 67, who is Warisan Kimanis chief said that the contest will be a friendly fight.
“There will be no violence or unwanted violation. It will be a gentlemen’s fight. Let the people decide,” he told reporters when met after the announcement.
When asked whether the one-on-one fight will benefit him, Karim said his party should refrain from being complacent.
“My gut feeling tells me that we (Warisan) will deliver. But then again we cannot take it too easy and be complacent,” he stressed.
Commenting on rumours that some Warisan members are worried about the chances of winning the Kimanis seat, Karim said that Warisan had never been scared.
He opined that the truth would only prevail January 18 when the votes are counted.
When asked to comment on former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s presence in Kimanis, Karim said that he was baffled to see how a person who has an ongoing high-profile court case could still campaign here.
“I was wondering why a person who has a court case could come here (in Kimanis) and act like he is the ‘boss’. Yet, people are still supporting him and to me that is the irony…what sort of rubbish is that?” he added.
Mohamad, 47, agreed with Karim that the contest would be a friendly affair.
“This is a friendly match between the the old guy and the new guy. I have known him (Karim) for a long time.
He was an Umno leader for a long time and he served as an assemblyman for 25 years,” said Mohamad.
He viewed Karim as one his mentors but stressed that he is ready to fight him.
“I will ensure that the Kimanis seat will stay with BN,” added Mohamad, who is also Umno Kimanis chief.
Karim was a five-term BN assemblyman for Bongawan, from 1990 to 2013, and he had also held the position of state assistant minister.
Mohamad on the other hand was the Bongawan assemblyman from 2013 to 2018. He lost the state seat during the 14th general elections (GE14) to Parti Warisan Sabah’s Dr Daud Yusof.
The by-election for Kimanis was triggered following the Federal Court’s ruling in affirming the Kota Kinabalu Election Court’s decision to annul the victory of Datuk Seri Anifah Aman in the Kimanis seat during the 14th general election (GE14).
The Election Court had on Aug 16 last year declared Anifah’s win in Kimanis in GE14 as null and void after finding that there were additional ballot papers which could have affected the results of the election.
Karim was the one who had filed the election petition and played a pivotal role in making the Kimanis by-election a reality.
In GE14, Anifah, a former foreign minister who contested on the BN-Umno ticket, won by a 156-vote majority when he polled 11,942 votes. Anifah announced his resignation from Umno, a BN component, in September 2018.
Back then, it was a three-cornered fight involving Anifah, Karim, who garnered 11,786 votes, and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah’s Jaafar Ismail, who obtained 1,300 votes.
The Kimanis parliamentary seat, which consisted of two state seats (namely Bongawan and Membakut) has a total of 29,644 voters, comprising 42% Muslim Bumiputeras, 41% non-Muslim Bumiputeras and 6% Chinese.
The Bongawan seat is currently held by Warisan while the Membakut seat is held by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).