Over 20pct turnout in Kinabatangan, Lamag in first 2 hours of voting

Having to cast their ballots once again since the Sabah election concluded in November last year did not dampen voters' spirits in today's twin Kinabatangan parliament and Lamag state-seat by-elections.

For the Kinabatangan parliament by-election, the Election Commission recorded 11,256 ballots cast as of 10am, or 23.31 percent of 48,282 registered voters.

Meanwhile, for the Lamag state seat, EC recorded 2,727 ballots cast as of 10am or 20.18 percent of 13,515 registered voters across six polling districts.

Berita Harian quoted a voter from Kampung Bilit, Amirudsah Rosli, 31, who said he took a boat from his home across the Kinabatangan River as early as 7am to reach the polling centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Suan Lamba.

The river crossing is only a five-minute affair, but the entire journey from home to the polling station took about two hours, said Amirudsah.

“This by-election makes us excited to vote. We hope the elected representative will carry out their responsibilities to the people and do better than before,” he was quoted as saying.

‘Knee pain not an obstacle’

Others adopted more conventional means of travel, including elderly voter Awang Azis, 83, who used an electric motorcycle to reach the polling centre at SK Bilit, just five minutes from his home.

Berita Harian quoted Awang, who said the knee pain he has suffered for the past five years requires him to use a walking stick as well as the electric motorcycle to get around.

“It’s not too difficult to come out and vote because my house is close to the polling centre.

“I hope those elected as representatives will bring good to the people and listen to our grievances and problems,” he said.

The SK Bilit polling centre with two voting streams falls under the Sukau state seat and has 586 registered voters, according to EC records.

The Kinabatangan parliamentary seat comprises three state constituencies - Sukau, Lamag and Kuamut.

As of 9am, Bernama reported two candidates contesting the Kinabatangan parliamentary by-election have cast their votes.

BN candidate Kurniawan Naim Moktar arrived at SK Bilit at 8.51am and cast his vote at 8.58am, while independent candidate Goldam Hamid voted at SK Minusoh at 8.54am.

The incumbent of both seats, Bung Moktar Radin, died on Dec 5 last year at the age of 66, having won the Kinabatangan seat in the 15th general election with a 4,330 majority and the Lamag seat on Nov 29 during the Sabah state election with a majority of 153 votes.

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