The Malaysian Insight

DESPITE the fact that there will be five candidates in Sandakan’s coming by-election, the battle is largely seen to be between Sabah DAP’s Vivian Wong and Parti Bersatu Sabah’s Linda Tsen.

While on opposing sides of the political divide, both Wong and Tsen have one thing in common – both have been pushed into electoral politics as a result of the death of a loved one.

Wong was named as the DAP candidate for the by-election to replace the incumbent, Stephen Wong Tien Fatt, who was her father.

The older Wong died on March 28 this year due to a heart attack after trekking through a newly opened adventure site in Putatan, Sabah.

As for Tsen, her foray into politics started following the death of her husband, Edward Chong Ket Wah, who was the Batu Sapi MP, in 2010. Tsen won the ensuing by-election and retained the seat in the 2013 general election. She was, however, defeated in the last general election.

While political analysts say that Wong might benefit from the sympathy vote and ride on her late father’s good reputation among locals, she admitted to feeling overwhelmed at times by the pace of campaigning.

“If you see me alone crying in the back, that means I really miss him,” she said.

As for Tsen, PBS president Maximus Ongkili said the party was confident of wresting control of the federal seat.

“The sentiments are favourable to us at the moment. This is because of the broken promises of the ruling party which promised to return the state rights, to deal with the unemployment problems and the drop in oil palm prices,” he said.

Nomination for the Sandakan by-election, which would be held on May 11, closed earlier today. The Election Commission announced that the polls will see a five-cornered fight, with three independents joining Wong and Tsen in the bid for the parliamentary seat. – April 27, 2019.