PAS to contest in 26 Sabah seats in GE14

The Islamist party will field 17 new names, including, for the first time in Sabah, a non-Muslim member.

Abdul Hadi Awang (seated, second right) unveiling the list of PAS candidates for Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: PAS will contest in 18 state and eight parliamentary seats in Sabah, the party announced here today.

A 61-year-old non-Muslim farmer, Satail Majungkat, Sabah PAS commissioner Mohd Aminuddin Aling and two women are among 17 new candidates fielded by the Islamist party.

This will be the first time ever the party has named a non-Muslim to contest a Sabah seat.

Satail, who belongs to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, will stand in Kadamaian, a KDM-majority state seat within the Kota Belud federal seat, which has more than 80% non-Muslim Bumiputera voters.

Aminuddin will stand in the Tuaran federal seat while the other parliamentary constituencies the party will battle in are Kota Belud, Putatan, Batu Sapi, Silam, Semporna, Tawau and Kalabakan.

Satail Majungkat wants to win in style.

The candidates’ list was announced by the party’s central election director Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said the fact the party was able to field Satail showed PAS had managed to reach out to non-Muslims as well, adding PAS had also fielded non-Muslim candidates in the peninsula.

“We have successfully broken down the wall that separates us from non-Muslims. This is due to our hard work in Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah.

“Word has gone out on how we fight for the people’s rights, including for non-Muslims, resulting in many non-Muslims applying to become members,” he said, adding the party has established supporter groups in Sabah and Sarawak.

Hadi said they were confident of securing at least one seat although he declined to specify which one, adding PAS will also be banking on split votes to help them win.

“I can’t tell you where our focus is because then our rivals will also focus there. But we will be able to win at least one seat.

Sabah PAS commissioner Aminuddin Aling.

“When there are a lot of parties contesting, there will surely be split votes and there will certainly be votes for us, not for the others,” he said.

He pointed out that people have made the mistake of underestimating PAS previously to their own peril.

“We have won in seats where we’ve never won before like Johor and Perlis. Now, we have seats in all the states, except for Sabah, Sarawak and Negeri Sembilan,” Hadi said.

“We have 196 divisions nationwide but we are only contesting in 160,” he said.

The remaining state seats PAS will be contesting are Tanjong Kapor, Pitas, Tempasuk, Usukan, Karambunai, Tanjong Aru, Sekong, Karamunting, Kuamut, Kunak, Sulabayan, Bugaya, Balung, Apas, Merotai, Tanjong Batu and Sebatik.

Satail wants to win in style

Satail, a father of 10, rates himself a good chance of winning the Kadamaian seat as he has many friends and family there.

“The seat also has a KDM-majority community. Because many of my relatives are there, I can see myself winning,” said the man from Sabah’s northern Kudat district.

Asked why he joined PAS, he said he was attracted by the party’s high spirituality, adding he signed up with the party in 2011.

“I see them as more spiritual and they will also be clean from corruption because they fear God,” he said.

Norsah Bongsu nervous about making her political debut.

Meanwhile, Norsah Bongsu, one of the two women candidates, was nervous about making her political debut. The 47-year-old former school teacher will stand for the Batu Sapi federal seat and its Karamunting state seat.

“I feel a big responsibility is being entrusted to me. It is also a perjanjian (agreement) with God, the party and the people. I don’t want to let them down,” she said.

She believed there is always a chance for her although the party is not widely accepted in Sabah.

“Sabahans are unique and we can easily mix around.

“Once they see what the party is about, then they will be able to make their own comparisons to the other parties,” said the mother of two.

The full list of the PAS candidates:

State seats:
Tanjong Kapor – Aliasgar Omolong
Pitas – Dauseh Queck
Tempasuk – Mustaqim Aling
Kadamaian – Satail Majungkat
Usukan – Adzmin Awang
Karambunai – Aspar Oyer @ Akbar
Tanjong Aru – Hamid Ismail
Sekong – Sahar Abdul Majid
Karamunting – Norsah Bongsu
Kuamut – Jumaidin Lakalla
Kunak – Kasman Karate
Sulabayan – Abdul Nasir Bin Hj Ab Raup
Bugaya – Mahamod Sarahil
Balung – Amboase Ramano
Apas – Daud Jalaluddin
Merotai – Ahmad Dullah
Tanjong Batu – Usman Madeaming

Parliamentary seats:

Kota Belud – Ag Laiman Ikin
Tuaran – Mohd Aminuddin Aling
Putatan – Zulzaim Hilmee Abidin
Batu Sapi – Norsah Bongsu
Silam – Ramli Pataruddin
Semporna – Abdul Nasir Bin Hj Ab Raup
Tawau – Mohamad Husain
Kalabakan – Norbin Aloh
Sebatik – Roslan Ramli. - FMT