KOTA KINABALU: The 16th Sabah state election is one of the biggest democracy in Malaysia, said former chief minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat.
“This is Sabah, real democracy in action. Everyone has the freedom to join (the state election).”
A total of 447 candidates from various parties and independents are vying for the 73 state seats in the 16th Sabah state election.
Chong, who is also the honorary life president of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said the voters would now decide the future leaders of Sabah come September 26.
“I wish all candidates the best.
“And it is now up to the electorates, the people in Sabah to decide who are worthy as the future leaders of the State,” he said in a press conference to announce LDP candidates at the party headquarters here yesterday.
Chong was confident that the party’s candidates would fare well in the state election.
“We did not just pluck candidates from nowhere. We have studied and gone through our list of candidates.”
In fact, he said the party had earmarked most candidates since last year, and others a month ago.
He said many had approached LDP wanting to be given an opportunity as candidate.
“But we have decided not to field the whole lot, there is no point,” he said.
Instead, Chong said the party was targeting the right areas and fielding the right personalities for the respective seats.
On another note, he said LDP had been receiving overwhelming response throughout Sabah.
“I am surprised a lot of Sabahans are getting fed up. They want to have a change, a change for the better.”
Meanwhile, LDP president Datuk Chin Su Phin said the party had screened 200 potential candidates before deciding on the 46 individuals who would be representing the party in the state election.
“We could have stood in all 73 seats by simply fielding a candidate.
“But we want quality candidates,” he stressed.
He urged Sabahans to give their full support to local parties for them to change the political landscape in Malaysia.
“For the past 60 years, the Federal Government had failed to meet the demands of East Malaysians, especially Sabahans.
“We need to unite local parties in order to have a strong bargaining power with the Federal Government,” he said.
Chin opined that neither the Perikatan Nasional (PN) or Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition could form the federal government in the event of a snap poll at the federal level.
Both PN and PH would have to rely on Sabahan and Sarawakian parliamentarians to form the federal government, thus empower East Malaysians to voice out our demands, he said.
“Hence, I urge the people to support local parties, especially LDP.”
Also present were LDP vice president cum election campaign director, Datuk Chin Shu Ying, secretary general and Kepayan candidate, Datuk Yong Wui Chung, Central Youth leader and Likas candidate, Sim Fui, Pantai Manis candidate Mazreca John, Luyang candidate Datuk Anthony Linggian@Chong Yuk Ken and Tanjong Aru candidate Datuk Ibrahim bin OKK Mohd Laiman Diki.