Ex-DCM quits Gerakan after offered to contest Sandakan seat
SANDAKAN POLLS | Gerakan's plans to field Raymond Tan for the upcoming Sandakan by-election were foiled by the former Sabah deputy chief minister's resignation from the party two days ago.
Due to this, Gerakan president Dominic Lau said today that the former BN component party would not contest the seat due to a lack of suitable candidates...
SANDAKAN POLLS | Gerakan's plans to field Raymond Tan for the upcoming Sandakan by-election were foiled by the former Sabah deputy chief minister's resignation from the party two days ago.
Due to this, Gerakan president Dominic Lau said today that the former BN component party would not contest the seat due to a lack of suitable candidates.
Speaking at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Lau stressed that Sabah Gerakan has been instructed not to campaign for any parties or independent candidates in the May 11 polls.
The Sandakan parliamentary seat, a DAP stronghold, fell vacant following the death of its incumbent Stephen Wong on March 28.
According to Lau, 35 members followed Tan in quitting the party, all of whom were once Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) members prior to joining Gerakan in 2009.
"Of course, we believe that this movement is related to the Sandakan by-election," he said.
The Gerakan chief added he had offered Tan (above) the opportunity to contest the seat last week, but had not received any response until last Monday.
He noted that Gerakan had decided to contest the by-election after considering the matter seriously.
“The survey we conducted two weeks ago showed that if we wanted to take part in the polls, we must have a suitable candidate.
“After getting feedback from members in Sandakan and Sabah, we decided to field Tan as our candidate. However, since he plans to quit the party, Gerakan won’t take part in the by-election,” he said.
When asked why Tan had resigned from the party, Lau read out Tan's resignation letter, citing the latter's decision to quit the party due to “certain reasons” (atas sebab-sebab tertentu).
He noted that there were a total of 16,767 Gerakan members in Sabah, and 2,575 members in its Sandakan branch.
Normal for ruling party to give 'candy'
Meanwhile, when asked to comment on the government's announcement that 49 projects in Sandakan worth RM2.28 billion had been approved, Lau said it is normal for the ruling party to give out “candy” during by-elections.
“It is normal, no matter which by-election it is, the ruling party will give out candy to the respective constituency. I think this is normal.
“But if we want more mature and democratic elections, this should not happen,” he said.
Lau stated that the issuing of allocations to the states falls under Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng's purview.
“For sure, he (Lim) will say this is not relevant to the by-election," the Gerakan leader said.
"When he denies it, and we cannot directly prove that this is vote-buying, it is useless for us to refute."
Yesterday, Lim announced the approval of 49 development projects worth RM2.28 billion in Sandakan, which he said would benefit the people of the second most populous town in the state.
However, former minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that two of the Sandakan development projects announced by Putrajaya yesterday were the initiatives of the BN administration.
These projects comprised a plan to upgrade the runway of the Sandakan Airport, and a flood mitigation project at Anip River.
The Rembau MP said both projects were approved under the 11th Malaysia Plan, which was tabled in Parliament in 2015.
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