The Malaysian Insight

THE main issue among Sandakan folks is the drop in oil palm prices that has hit many of the local businesses here, which in turn has brought the local economy to almost a standstill.

Voters in Sandakan told The Malaysian Insight that the district relies heavily on palm oil cultivation. They said when the prices of the cash crop were climbing, Sandakan enjoyed the most in terms of development and progress. Commercial complexes were built, jobs were created, some even become instant tycoons.

They remember that in the heydays of solid prices of commodities, Sandakan became a wealthy district and the spillover was also felt in the other neighbouring districts, especially in the real estate businesses.

However, all that started to change as commodity prices began to drop over the past five years or so. The signs of hardship is now evident in Sandakan with many shops and businesses have already shuttered down, or in the process of doing so.

In reality, Sandakan is faced with numerous problems, said local voters as the Sandakan by-election nomination process gets off today.

“We lack visitors. No one comes here anymore,” said Chin Liew Fang, a Sandakan restaurant operator near Bandar Ramai who has been in business for about five years now.

“Last time, there used to be many customers but as the palm oil prices drop, it eventually begins to affect local businesses,” said the 53-year-old.

Hayanti Majid, 52, who runs a nasi kuning restaurant, also admits business was no longer active as they were 15 years ago when Bandar Ramai township was first launched.

“Many of them had gone to other places like Bandar Kim Fung. The crowd prefer to go there because the area has a daily market operating in the area,” she said.

She added that the spillover effect of the drop in oil palm prices was severe – no local economy means no business, which means shops will have to suffer losses, which results in people being laid off.

This inevitably leads to various other problems such as rural migration to the city.

“There are just not too many jobs around. There are no offices or business operations other than palm oil here.

“So when the plantation companies suffer, the Sandakan economy also suffers,” said Hayanti.

Another Sandakan local, Yusdy Rosle, said that soon Sandakan will become a dead town if the government does not find a solution to the problem.

It has been tipped that Sandakan will be turned into a hub for timber-based industries, following the ban of export of round logs imposed by the state government.

But after close to a year, the new Warisan-led government has yet to see factories that process timbers being built in the district.

The Sandakan district also needs to boost its tourism businesses, which according to Yusdy, will help the district to resolve part of its problems.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the federal government has approved 49 development projects worth RM2.28 billion in Sandakan, of which RM183 million will be allocated this year.

“The federal government has allocated sufficient allocation for the Sandakan district so its economic growth will continue to expand,” he had said on Thursday.

Among the projects being undertaken in Sandakan are flood mitigation at Sg Anip estimated to cost RM40 million and the expansion of Sandakan airport at RM80 million.

Apart from that, a few other projects to improve the economic status of Sandakan are also in the pipeline, including those related to oil, palm oil and public transportation.

The Sandakan constituency fell vacant after the death of its incumbent member of Parliament Stephen Wong, of DAP, who was also Sabah health and people’s wellbeing minister, on March 28.

The Election Commission has fixed today as nomination day, while polling will be on May 11. Early voting is on May 7.

Sandakan has 39,777 registered voters comprising 49% Chinese, Muslim Bumiputeras (44%) and non-Muslim Bumiputeras (6%).

Despite the sentiments on the ground, Sabah DAP, which had named Stephen Wong’s 30-year-old daughter Vivian Wong as its candidate, is the favourite to win this by-election. DAP has held Sandakan since 2013.

On the other side, while Barisan Nasional has decided to sit out of this by-election, local opposition party Parti Bersatu Sabah has named former Batu Sapi MP Linda Tsen, also a local, as its candidate.

Tsen was the Batu Sapi MP from 2010 until 2018, and like Vivian, she also won the seat following the death of a loved one.

In that instance, her husband Edward Chong, who died in a road accident in November 2010.

There will be independents joining the fray too but the race is surely between Vivian and Linda, and on who can convince the voters that they can bring back the good times to Sandakan. – April 27, 2019.