Tsen kicks off voting campaign
PBS candidate takes relaxed approach to wooing the people
SANDAKAN: Banking on her experience, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) candidate Datuk Linda Tsen is taking a relaxed approach to wooing voters here.
While her main contender from DAP addressed the crowd in a ceramah on Saturday night, Tsen started her campaign rounds some 30 hours after nomination closed.
The former Batu Sapi MP’s first public event was at the housing estate of Taman Damai, close to the bustling Kim Fung market, to pitch for support at about 4pm yesterday.
Tsen, 63, is hoping to use her past experience to win over voters in this mainly mixed community of Muslim bumiputras and Chinese.
PBS was optimistic about pulling off an upset with the combined support of both national and local opposition parties.
Asked why it took her so long to hit the ground, Tsen said she was still familiarising herself with the constituency.
“I know the Elopura area well, but not so much Tanjung Papat. That is why I started a bit later,” she said when met during her walkabout.
Elopura and Tanjung Papat are the two state constituencies under the Sandakan parliamentary seat.
While Tsen got a mix of warm and cool responses from the people, her rival Vivian Wong, 30, had already covered the same ground a day earlier.
Wong, who is DAP’s choice for the seat left vacant following the death of her father Datuk Stephen Wong, officially started her campaign trail with her mother Datin Chong Mee Fook and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng with a ceramah in a school hall.
Lim expressed his confidence in Wong, saying the political newbie could be the voice of Sandakan as she had the courage to speak up.
“She can also help both state and Federal governments bring more development to Sandakan,” he told reporters during a walkabout.
The rivalry between Tsen and Wong is set to gain momentum as they push agendas close to the hearts of the people.
Among the bread and butter issues are the economic slowdown, lack of job opportunities and security in this once booming timber town, whose residents hope to bring back the glory days of the 1970s and early 1980s.
With the focus on the two major parties, the three independent candidates are also rolling out their own campaigning strategies.
Supporters of businessman Chia Siew Yung, 45, were seen operating from a wooden stilt house at coastal Kampung Sim-Sim area. However, he was not spotted going around to meet the people yet.
Another independent candidate, Sulaiman Abdul Samat, started his campaign at 9am yesterday at the weekly market followed by another walkabout in Kampung Sim-Sim at 2pm.
Sulaiman, who will be campaigning with a team of eight supporters, said he might be having his first ceramah at 4pm today.
“Others are working behind the scenes, helping to design posters and campaign materials,” he added.
Former Sabah PAS and later Sabah Amanah chairman Hamzah Abdullah headed to Pulau Berhala for his campaign among the mainly Muslim bumiputra communities of Bajau-Suluk in the area.