Sabah Umno deputy chief Abdul Rahman Dahlan is banking on his service record as the former Kota Belud MP to help keep the Tempasuk state seat under Barisan Nasional in the Nov 29 state election.
Rahman said he was ready to take on anyone at the polls, including former Umno man Arsad Bistari, who was Tempasuk assemblyman prior to the dissolution of the Sabah assembly.
Rahman said he kickstarted a lot of development for the area when he was Kota Belud MP from 2008 to 2018, including the ongoing construction of a polytechnic in Tempasuk.
“The project was planned in 2017 but cancelled by the Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration in 2018, and Warisan (which led the Sabah government from 2018 to 2020) did not defend it.
“I continued to champion it and raised the project with Umno’s (higher education) ministers, namely Noraini Ahmad, then Khaled Nordin and now Zambry Abdul Kadir.
“Tempasuk needs continuous development and long-term planning. That will be my priority,” he told FMT.
BN took Tempasuk in 1994 but lost the seat in December 2018 after its then assemblyman, Musbah Jamli, left Umno before joining Warisan a month later.
Arsad won the seat in the 2020 polls on a BN ticket with a 1,685-vote majority.
He later left Umno to join Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah following the failed Kinabalu Move in January 2023, which was aimed at unseating Hajiji Noor as chief minister.
Rahman was among the 41 BN state election candidates announced yesterday. This will mark his first time throwing his hat in the ring for a state seat, having only participated in parliamentary elections until now.
Rahman was fielded by BN for the Sepanggar parliamentary seat in 2018 but lost to Warisan’s Azis Jamman by 12,984 votes. In 2022, he returned to Kota Belud but lost to Warisan’s Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis by 4,582 votes.
Kota Belud comprises the Pintasan, Tempasuk, Usukan and Kadamaian state constituencies.
Rahman said the strength of Umno’s machinery and grassroots in Tempasuk gave him confidence, adding that the area was a BN stronghold.
“Although I lost (the contest for Kota Belud in 2022), we still won most of the votes in Tempasuk. So we still have our strength there.
“Whether it’s a straight or three-cornered contest, we’re ready to face our opponents. But we will still have to work hard,” he said.
Nominations will be held on Saturday.
