KUCHING, Jan 19: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government must learn from the defeat in the just concluded Kimanis by-election.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing believed that the PH government must accept the people’s choice and move forward to administer the country for betterment.
Commenting on the outcome, he said: “The Kimanis by-election results maybe a shock and a disappointment to the PH government, but if they take their loss positively and use their defeat to make Pakatan a better administrator to Malaysia.
“Such positive move may not augur well for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) as it approaches the 12th state election, but Malaysian voters deserve better than what PH govt has done in the last two years.”
Masing, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, added that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his ministers must stop the blame game and start to govern as they have promised during GE14.
“Malaysian voters need to ensure that not all former Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders are devils, as not all PH are angels. So, learn to forget and forgive and move forward to make Malaysia a better country for all,” he continued.
He believed that the increase of 1,237 per cent win by BN during the Kimanis by-election last Saturday is an indication that Malaysian politics is very dynamic.
He noted that the political situation is very sensitive to the various nuances to political changes and unkept promises.
Meanwhile, BN candidate Datuk Mohamad Alamin defeated Parti Warisan Sabah’s Datuk Karim Bujang with a majority of 2,029 votes in the Kimanis by-election yesterday.
Mohamad garnered 12,706 votes against 10,677 votes received by Karim.
The by-election was called after Karim filed an election petition with the Election Court to challenge the result of the 2018 general election, which was won by former foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.
Karim then succeeded in his quest when the court ruled that the result for the Kimanis parliamentary seat in the GE14 was null and void.
The by-election for Kimanis parliamentary seat was activated when the Federal Court on Dec 2, last year, upheld the Election Court’s ruling on Karim’s petition.
Kimanis is the 10th by-election since GE14 and the fifth parliamentary seat to be contested, following Port Dickson, Cameron Highlands, Sandakan and Tanjung Piai. — DayakDaily
