CALONKINI | Unlike Khalid’s hit song, Sabah BN's youngest candidate Ceasar Mandela Malakun may be young, but he's far from being dumb and broke.

The 27-year-old United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) leader has a Master’s in law from City, University of London, and is the group general manager of a property firm that developed one of Penampang's latest landmarks, the International Technology and Commercial Centre.

Born a few months after the late South African leader, Nelson Mandela, from whom he gets his name, was released from prison, Mandela is also the son of veteran politician and businessperson Clarence Bongkos Malakun, and the grandson of the late Sabah developer Wong Kwok.

In the 14th general election, Mandela will be squaring off with Parti Warisan Sabah deputy president Darell Leiking and two others in the parliamentary seat of Penampang.

With his lineage and overseas education, there have been questions over whether Mandela truly has what it takes to know what the people want. But he dismisses such claims of ‘privilege.’

"What is an easy life? I still had to study hard, I still need to work.

"When I was younger, I would wake up at 5am during the school holidays to pick fruits at my grandfather's orchard.

"I don't really share my personal life but my close friends and family would know. If anyone thinks that or has such ideas, please feel free to come and see me and we can talk about it,” he stressed in an interview with Malaysiakini.

Mandela also pointed out that there were many others who had less than him when growing up, but were doing better than him now.

"They are more successful than me. I know people who had it better than me but who are now struggling. So it's something very subjective," he said.

Getting involved

Like his contender Leiking, Mandela is a Penampang native. Both hail from the same village, Kampung Limbanak, and are even related – Leiking's uncle is married to Mandela's aunt.

And like Leiking (photo), both are qualified lawyers and are the sons of veteran politicians. However, the Warisan leader has an edge over Mandela in terms of political experience.

While politics has always been a big part of his life – Mandela's father defeated the then BN chief minister Bernard Dompok in 1999 – Mandela admitted he never really thought of taking the plunge until two years ago.

"I've never been pressured to be in politics. Many people here know I've been concentrating on property development and business.

"The reason why I joined politics was that I feel there is a need for youths to get involved and be given a voice in the government."

Have the youth in Sabah not been given this chance? Mandela believes the caretaker state government has indeed tried hard to make this happen, putting in "a lot of effort" to give youths a voice.

"The youths in Penampang are a very hard working bunch of people. What they need is specific, targeted industries for them to improve their livelihood.

"For Penampang, our literacy level is very high. We have a lot of graduates, especially specialised graduates in information technology.

“But when they come back to Sabah, they are only able to get jobs in Kota Kinabalu or in the few IT companies in Sabah. A lot of them have to migrate to Kuala Lumpur," he said.

Moving forward, Mandela believes it is necessary for there to be a focus on the IT industry, among others, to reduce the brain drain in Penampang.

Here, he describes in his own words his decision to go into politics and how he plans to approach the election.

THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT FROM THE YOUTHS IN PENAMPANG MADE ME DECIDE TO JOIN POLITICS. They share with me their vision for a better future, their vision for Penampang to be modernised, for it not to be involved in the old politics, but to focus on the issues and the aspirations for the future.

Youths in Penampang are very much urbanised, they are politically and technologically savvy. They will be able to check each and every single fact you tell them.

For the people here, information is at our fingertips, the youths are technologically savvy, they know what they want and what they are looking for. They want employment opportunities, the economy to be improved, and they want their expertise to be relevant to the job market.

THERE WERE MANY PARTIES THAT SPOKE TO ME BEFORE, BUT I FEEL THAT UPKO IS THE MOST SUITABLE ONE FOR ME. Maybe they asked me during a different time, maybe at that time, five years ago, I was still very involved in business.

Upko is a party that has been very consistent, it has been fighting for the rights of Sabahans, for native community rights and religious freedom rights here in Sabah.

Out of all the parties, I feel it is important for us to be in a party that is consistent and stable in order for us to be able to make a real impact in society.

I'LL BE GOING PERSON-TO-PERSON, HOUSE-TO-HOUSE TO REACH OUT TO VOTERS. We'll be focusing more on the ground. That way, we'll be able to listen and understand the worries and the concerns of the people.

GETTING MY MESSAGE ACROSS TO EACH AND EVERY SINGLE VOTER WOULD BE A CHALLENGE. This time around, there are 53,000 registered voters, that's a very big area to cover.

WHAT GIVES BN AN EDGE IS WE HAVE BEEN WORKING REALLY HARD IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS. Not only in town, but also in the rural areas, reaching out to the voters, to people who are really in need. BN has been very consistent in Penampang on service to the community.

I think we'll let the rakyat choose in this coming election on who they want to represent them in the five years to come.

I WILL STILL BE ACTIVE IN UPKO, EVEN IF I LOSE. We've made a commitment to the community that we will be part of them in this way. We will continue with the party's struggle, and continue to find ways to develop our district.

BN and Upko will do our level best to serve the community.

CALONKINI introduces new faces from all sides of the political divide who are candidates for the 14th general election.

These interviews are not an endorsement by Malaysiakini.

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