BN’s Chan vs DAP’s Chong in Elopura?
SANDAKAN: Elopura is the biggest state seat in Sandakan with the largest population, more than 40 residential areas; three satellite towns (Bandar Indah, Bandar Prima and Kim Fung), one hospital (the only hospital in Sandakan), nine secondary and eight primary schools and 15 kindergartens.
For the upcoming election, besides the Sandakan parliamentary seat, the Elopura state seat has been receiving the most attention from the locals.
On January 13, 2018, Elopura assemblyman since 2004 Datuk Au Kam Wah announced that he would not be defending the Elopura state seat in the coming election and recommended Elopura’s Community Development Leader Chan Tzun Hei as his replacement.
Au, however, confirmed that he would not be retiring from politics and would continue to support the Barisan Nasional (BN).
Chan, 35, who is also the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) Sandakan Youth Chief, was the youngest Community Development Leader to be appointed at 24 then in Sabah.
In an interview, Chan said that he was ready to serve the people of Elopura with his experience as a Community Development Leader for 11 years.
“Datuk Au said that he had been in the political field for 33 years, and he wanted to give way to a younger and more dynamic person who could serve the people of Elopura better,” he said.
Chan was a member of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) since year 2004. In 2008, as Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) pulled out from BN, Chan and Au quit SAPP and joined Gerakan.
Chan is known well by the locals with his active appearance in school functions including the schools’ Annual General Meeting and programmes, either representing Au or as a guest of honour himself.
He is also often seen answering to local complaints by going to the ground to inspecting problems faced by the locals over the past 11 years.
His efforts would not go to waste if he is chosen to be the candidate to compete for Elopura State Seat as a lot of locals have a good impression of him.
A local youth who will be voting for the first time in GE14, Ho Ken Nyen, 23, said that he felt a lot had been done by the BN (Gerakan) as he saw a lot of changes and development in Elopura.
“Knowing that Elopura is big with a lot of residents, logically, there will be a lot of complaints from time to time. But, at this rate where the local leaders are going, I think they have done their best as we do not have major problems here.
“The Kim Fung Night Market that was initiated by the Elopura State Seat office is also a ‘hit’ amongst the locals until today. We could see that the night market is full with visitors every Saturday night. I think that this is a good initiative as it shows that business is blooming in Sandakan and we also have a good common activity amongst locals, which is to visit the Kim Fung Night Market on Saturday night,” he said.
The Kim Fung Night Market has been a local destination every Saturday night which was initiated by Au since eight years ago. The market has stalls selling from food, to clothes and computer accessories. There is also a stage in which local artists, bands and dancers could perform for the public.
Chan said that the market was initiated to provide opportunity for entrepreneurs in Sandakan to boost their sales as well as for single mothers and the less fortunate to earn extra income.
“I could say that I am quite confident that BN would win Elopura seat again with encouragement and motivation given by the public. I hope to continue the legacy of BN in Elopura,” he said.
However, with all the good deeds that BN has done, there are new challenges to face this time around with social media that is starting to be the main platform of information for the youth here.
“A total of 63 per cent of the registered voters are below 50. So with these younger voters, they tend to rely on the social media as a source of information and news. So in order to reach to them, we have to make use of the social media so that we would be able to increase our capability to solve their problems effectively,” he said.
Meanwhile, it was reliably learnt that Calvin Chong, DAP Sandakan Vice Chairman, has been actively engaging with the locals since the past couple of months, although he was doing the same in Karamunting before that.
While Chong could be a possible candidate from DAP to be fighting for the Elopura State Seat, he said that if he was a candidate, there is a list of problems that he would propose to solve in Elopura.
“Firstly, I would do adjustment to the town planning. The Kim Fung market (mile 4) should be extended, and a market building should be built at the temporary market in Mile 3.5 (Jalan Bomba) so that local fishermen would have a permanent and safe place to sell their catch.
“I would also develop Sedco in Mile 3.5 into a medium and heavy industrial area so that more factories could be built, which would generate more job opportunities for the locals,” he said.
Chong’s suggestion to develop the industrial area here, if implemented, would also bring more investors to Sandakan which would be able to produce more of its local products, thus making the products cheaper here considering that there would be less transportation cost.
He also said that the traffic jam problem at T-junction in Mile 4 which connects the road to town, Jalan Lintas Utara, Mile 5 and Indah Jaya could be solved if there were more connecting roads to connect the other residential areas to satellite towns.
“For example, one road could be developed to connect between Nasalim (Jalan Lintas Utara) and Taman Tyng (mile 6). This way, less vehicles would need to go through the T-junction in Mile 4,” he added.
Chong said that based on his own survey, he found that DAP (Pakatan Harapan) receives more support from the locals, not only from the Chinese, but also the Bumiputera.
“I see a lot of support for Pakatan Harapan, so we (PH) do stand a chance to win here. I hope that if I am chosen to become a candidate, the locals would continue to support me,” he added.
A total of 51.02 per cent of registered voters in Elopura are Chinese, while the rest are Bumiputera and ‘others’.
In the last election, Hiew Vun Zin from DAP almost won Elopura garnering 7,854 against Au’s 8,105 with a slim majority of 251 votes, and SAPP’s Liau Fook Kong with 469 votes.