Tsen hopes for PBS comeback with Sandakan win

SANDAKAN POLLS | Linda Tsen is hoping that a win in the coming Sandakan polls could serve as a springboard for the comeback of Parti Bersatu Sabah.

As PBS vice-president, Tsen said that it is her obligation to ensure the revival of the party's political might.

PBS suffered heavy losses in last year’s general election, with its four parliamentary seats reduced to just one – Kota Marudu, which is held by president Maximus Johnity Ongkili.

“I have an obligation to the party, hence I accepted the nomination for the Sandakan by-election.

“We have quit BN… We used our party logo to contest. This is a comeback battle for PBS,” she said during a recent joint media interview in Sandakan.

This will be Tsen's second contest in a by-election. 

In 2010, she won the Batu Sapi parliamentary seat under a BN ticket after the demise of her husband, then-incumbent Edmund Chong.

This time, however, she will be contesting under the opposition ticket after BN’s fall in the 14th general election.

Tsen conceded that a win in the May 11 polls would not enable her to enjoy the advantage of belonging to the ruling coalition – such as distributing development allocations, as she once did as Batu Sapi MP.

Even so, she said, a victory would mean she could serve as a check and balance on the Pakatan Harapan government’s development allocations for Sandakan.

"If I win, I will be an opposition lawmaker. I don't have any allocation. It (serving constituents) will be through a different method.

"For example, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said he will allocate RM2.28 billion for Sandakan. 

"I will make sure the plan is fully implemented, and the planned Sandakan airport extension is honoured,” she added.

Obtaining a fellowship from the London College of Music, Tsen was a qualified piano teacher, and once served as the head of the Kota Kinabalu Music Society before entering politics.

The coming by-election is a crowded five-cornered fight, which will see Tsen taking on DAP’s Vivian Wong and three independent candidates – Chia Siew Yung, Hamzah Abdullah and Sulaiman Abdul Samad.

Wong is the daughter of, and former special assistant to the late Sandakan incumbent Stephen Wong.

Early voting for Sandakan falls on May 7, with polling set to take place four days later.

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