Youngest candidate wants to champion young people
KOTA KINABALU: As the youngest candidate in the 16th Sabah State Election, Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Yillson Yanggun is looking forward to win Tandek seat and give more opportunities to young people to lead in the grassroots level.
The Village Community Management Council (MPKK) is something that he will immediately restructure if he wins in the election.
“MPKK is under the jurisdiction of state government, so we can assign some of our young people to serve there, learn about native customary law, administration and leadership from the seniors.
“This is the time where the young people need to be visible in the village and district levels because we also have the capacity to deliver,” he said in an interview with the media, yesterday.
Although this is his first experience contesting in election, he believed his experience with the district youth council since his school days would give him the advantage to win the young voters.
“My biggest strength for this election is the BN logo. The voters in Tandek are familiar with BN, and they are voting for this party because of the development in Kota Marudu that initiated by the previous leaders.
“Since I am new for them, I spent my three days going house to house under ‘Sentuhan Rakyat’ program, introducing myself and I personally received positive response from old and new members. It was overwhelming,” said 23-year-old Yillson, who hails from Kampung Marak Parak.
Yillson, who is currently holding a post as Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) divisional chief, did not expect to be chosen as a candidate, as his initial plan was to help Pensiangan member of parliament Arthur Kurup.
Arthur, the deputy president of PBRS, was the person behind his journey in the election.
“My experience in politics started in 2018, helping incumbent assemblywoman Datuk Anita Baranting campaigning and organizing event for the youth.
“Even when I was in secondary school, I was very active in the district youth council and youth club in my village. It was always my dream to jump into politics but there were some hurdles after
GE14 because I did not have place to go. I wanted to serve under BN because of its good track record, but after GE14 the situation changed.
“When I met Arthur last year, it was the turning point for me to seriously get involved in politics because PBRS is the only party that is still loyal to BN. I officially joined the party in June.
“I learned a lot from Arthur. I was his media officer, and he told me that he had a long-term plan for me. However, when he called me on Monday that I was going to be a BN candidate, I accepted the challenge,” he said.
He is hoping the people of Tandek will be voting for him as he knows what is needed to develop Tandek, and he feels it is important to have a good relationship with the federal government by having BN to come back into power in Sabah.
Apart from Yillson, Anita will be challenged by Padis Majingkin (Upko), Liensin @ Danny Limpakan, Andy Villson and Hendrus Anding (PBS).