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Kota Kinabalu: Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (PGRS) candidate for Kepayan, Stephen Jacob Jimbangan, believes the real fight for the Kepayan seat is between him and Warisan-DAP’s Jannie Lasimbang.

Himself a former DAP candidate, he said Jannie is his good friend and is close to many of the Lasimbang family. Apart from Jannie, the 52-year-old is going up against give others-PCS’ Chua Juan Shiuh, PBS’ Dr Edwin Bosi, Lu Yen Tung (BN), Yong Wui Chung (LDP) and independent candidate Chew Shung Seng.

Jimbangan believes whatever Jannie has done for Kepayan during her two-year tenure as Kepayan Assemblyman, he can do better as he is 10 years younger and is a grassroots man. “Being younger and always on the ground, I know the needs of the people. My big family base is also concentrated in Kepayan,” he said. This is the third time he is contesting in the Kepayan seat. The first was in 2004 as an independent and the second was in 2008 as DAP candidate where he garnered a sizeable 4,100 votes.

On why he quit DAP, he said it was because he no longer trusted the DAP.

“How many promises Lim Guan Eng made were not fulfilled at the Sandakan parliamentary by-election.

“In Sarawak, they requested funds to repair schools and yet he (Guan Eng) asked the government to pay their loan. Siapa hutang siapa sebenarnya? (Who owes who actually?). Malaya owes us billions,” he said. 

Stephen

On why he decided to join PGRS, which is unknown, he said: “Although it was registered in 2013, this is the first time the party is participating in an election.

“Firstly, it is a new party and we are not aligned to either Warisan Plus/PH or Perikatan Nasional. We offer an alternative to the people.

“Secondly, our Advisor is Datuk Francis Goh who spent millions helping the people of Kepayan since 2016. Goh is a truly caring leader. “Thirdly, 27 out of 28 of our candidates never became Wakil Rakyat before, meaning mostly new faces, without scandals, etc. I look upon who are the leaders of a particular party, not so much on the name of the party. Most important, it has to be a local multicultural party,” he said. As for his mission for Kepayan, the entrepreneur who is quite successful in building maintenance mostly private businesses, wants to ensure cleanliness especially where coffee shops, restaurants and public toilets are concerned.

“We need clean town to attract more tourists especially to our Tamu Dongonggon.

“Secondly, we need prompt action in maintaining our existing infrastructure, road, drainage etc. “Thirdly, we need to clean Kepayan of illegal squatters, all people living in Kepayan must have proper documentation required by our authorities. “I would find ways to propose more schools in Penampang, preferably Chinese medium school in Kepayan. In comparison, Penampang has four secondary schools only compared to six in Papar,” he said. He also hopes to be able to motivate youths to take up entrepreneurship when he becomes their representative in Kepayan.

He said he would establish a rakyat-friendly service center. “I met quite a number of the disabled and single mothers here, and we have to help them as I have been informed some of them have not received assistance,” he said. Hence, having a dedicated service centre would help centralise the process of helping the community.

“I know the people here better than Jannie Lasimbang, because for 16 years I have been going to the ground and mixing with the rakyat. “I know the constituents well and even their names. They also where I live. (If elected) I believe I can serve them better than Jannie,” he said. Other than the service centre, Stephen plans to boost tourism in the constituency which would subsequently improve the people’s livelihood.

“The first thing we need to do is ensure that all the toilets in shops and restaurants are clean. It would be embarrassing for tourists to visit our area, but they see dirty premises. “When tourism is built up, from there our people can increase their income as the locals can do local business that are aligned with tourism,” he said, adding he would encourage homestays. Stephen also hopes to increase safety in the area by working with the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) and relevant authorities. “We need to encourage more fire drills especially in high-rise buildings. From my observation I have never seen this being done. “All the fire hydrants should be maintained and monitored. We don’t want a situation where it is only during a fire that we find out all the fire hydrants are not working. I don’t want a situation where it is only when a mishap happens that we start doing something about it. “So far the campaign has been very encouraging, the response is good and I can feel it. I see a much better response compared to when I contested in 2008. I hope my votes would double this time,” he said. Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) Kapayan Division Leader Jeddrey Jomion and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Kapayan representative Jackson Boijol have also declared their support for Stephen during his campaign.