Penampang developer’s son eligible to contest in GE14 – senator
PENAMPANG: Seasoned politician-turned-developer, Datuk Seri Panglima Clarence Bongkos Malakun’s son, Ceasar Mandela Malakun, is eligible to become a candidate in the upcoming election.
Penampang Umno Division chief Senator Datuk John Ambrose made the statement during the ITCC Chinese New Year celebration yesterday.
Rumours are rife that Ceasar, who is the Group General Manager of Sabanilam Enterprise Sdn Bhd, the developer of ITCC Penampang, was one of the likely young candidates who would be fielded in the 14th general election.
John also commented that one of the reasons was because of Ceasar’s youth. He added that there was no doubt that the young would be the leaders of tomorrow.
In his speech, John also said that the Barisan Nasional (BN) would be able to take back Penampang from the clutches of the opposition in the upcoming election.
He said that the present government had provided a lot of allocations for Penampang and he was going to forward more proposals to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Ceasar, when approached for comments as to whether he would contest, refused to say anything on the issue.
“No comment. We will, as a component of Barisan Nasional, be ready to face the election. It does not matter who is going to be the candidate. We will ensure a BN victory in Penampang,” he said.
As to the rumours that he would be contesting, Ceasar said that these probably stemmed from the party meetings he had attended and also because of the BN leadership’s focus at both state and federal levels to get younger people to go into the country’s politics.
“So it is probably because I am one of the younger members in Penampang today,” he said.
He added that if he was selected to contest, he hoped that it is the choice of the people.
“Nevertheless, the most important thing is to work hard,” he said.
Ceasar, who is also Upko Penampang Natural Disaster Bureau chief, has been actively involved in various community initiatives in the last several months.
On another matter, Ceasar has called on the State legislation to catch up with the latest business development involving youths in Sabah.
He said that the food truck business was becoming very popular among youths but there are no by-laws to govern it.
“The legislation needs to catch up on these,” he said.
He also said that youths in Sabah were also into social media to promote their business activities, a venture that only started recently.
He urged the authorities to come up with a platform that would help such creative entrepreneurs to excel in their business.