Sum elected as Lawas MP for fifth term
LAWAS: Datuk Henry Sum Agong was one again elected to be the member of parliament for Lawas when the election result was announced for the constituency last night.
The result showed that the Malays in the constituency were steadfast behind Barisan Nasional ( BN) and the return of support from the Lun Bawang community while there was a marginal shift of support from the Chinese community to the opposition.
This is the first time the constituency is without the Kelabit voters from Bario who had been known to be strong BN supporters as they had been moved to Baram constituency.
Nevertheless, there was never any doubt of victory for the BN candidate.
Returning officer Hussaini Hakim announced that Sum garnered Sum 10,037 votes to beat Danny Piri of PKR and independent candidate Mohamad Drahim by a majority of 6,000 votes.
Danny obtained 4,037 votes while Mohamad Drahim received 176 votes, losing his election deposit.
There were 157 spoilt votes and turnout was 68.3 percent.
The constituency has 21,297 registered voters.
In the 2013 general election, 74.9 percent of the 18,843 registered voters in the constituency cast their vote.
Orang UIu and other non-Malay Bumiputeras form the biggest group of voters at 10,307, followed by Malays ( 8,543), Chinese (1,970) and other ethnic groups.
There were 57 voting streams in Lawas constituency.
The majority won by Sum was almost similar to the 13th general election when he was returned for his fourth term with 6,030-vote majority.
In that election, Sum polled 9928 votes against 3,898 by Dr Bob Baru Langub ( DAP) and 69 by Alirahman Kamseh of STAR.
Sum’s victory was boosted by the support from Bukit Sari assemblyman and Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.