Not right time to talk by-election for Sandakan

KOTA KINABALU: Now is not the right time to talk about the by-election for the Sandakan parliamentary seat, said DAP Sabah acting-chairman Datuk Frankie Poon Ming Fung.

Although the tragic passing of Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt had triggered the need for a by-election, Frankie said that the focus for now should be on Stephen’s funeral.

“I believe there is a season for everything. Now is the season for us to focus on our late brother.

“It would not take long (to plan for the by-election). We have to respect him and we should focus on the funeral service first.

“We will deal with that (the by-election) sometime later,” Frankie told reporters at a press conference at the DAP Sabah headquarters here yesterday.

He is well aware that Sabahans may have concerns as to who would be replacing Stephen as the DAP candidate in the impending Sandakan by-election.

“I know that the people may be concerned with the state of affairs of DAP and the current government because we know that the country and state must still continue to run.

“Bear with us, give us a few more days. Let us sort out our brother’s funeral service rather than thinking about things that can still wait,” he added.

Stephen is a two-term Member of Parliament (MP) for Sandakan; in the recent 14th General Election (GE14), he contested against LDP’s Lim Ming Hoo, garnering 19,094 votes against the latter’s 8,996.

He was also the State Health and People’s Wellbeing Minister.

He died at the age of 65 on Thursday afternoon due to a heart attack.

Also present in the press conference were the DAP Sabah advisor Datuk Jimmy Wong Sze Phin, DAP Sabah publicity secretary Ginger Phoong Jin Zhe, Likas assemblyman Tan Lee Fatt and other party leaders.