PKR confident on winning Kiulu seat
TUARAN: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is very much upbeat on the possibility of wresting the Kiulu seat from the Barisan Nasional in the next general election.
In his speech to welcome members and supporters of the party at the launching of the N.11 Kiulu operation centre in Tamparuli on Sunday, chief coordinator of PKR Kiulu, Richard Libun Adou, expressed confidence in PKR winning the seat in the 14th general election.
Giving his welcoming speech in the presence of PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who officially launched the operation centre, Adou said that the main indication of the instability of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in Kiulu is the fact that the PBS candidate in the last election won only by a razorthin majority of 44 votes.
“This clearly shows that the people of Kiulu are eager and have long been ready for a change in leadership,” he said.
“The people are disappointed that after more than half a century of independence they have yet to see significant development for their area. It is shameful that we don't even have a decent township in Kiulu for so long.
“Although Kiulu was represented by a chief minister and full ministers before this, and despite our proximity to the state capital, we are still considered as if we are a distant interior region. Many villages are still not reachable by roads, are not even covered with gravels. During rainy seasons many roads in the hilly areas are impassable because they become too slippery even for four-wheel drive vehicles,” he added.
Adou pledged to the PKR president that the present PKR leadership in Kiulu will accelerate its campaign to send the message that PKR, as a national party, is in the best position to rule the country and the state of Sabah.
“PKR is both a national party as well as a local party. We will emphasize that PKR guarantees the rights and autonomy of Sabah, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” Adou said.
Datuk Joniston Bangkuai Chairman is the Kiulu assemblyman who won the seat on a PBS ticket.