Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal on Sunday night announced the party’s candidates for Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan.

He said the party will be fielding Amanda Teo in Kota Kinabalu, Alex Thien in Sandakan and KC Chen in Tawau for the 15th General Election (GE15).

Shafie’s announcement came during the Warisan Kota Kinabalu division fundraising dinner.

When speaking to the media later, Shafie said the three are young candidates who are very qualified, with good backgrounds, are knowledgeable and well exposed to both the state’s and country’s politics.

“These are the choices of candidates we want to portray to all Malaysians in Sabah, as they are the people who can help not only formulate policies in Parliament but can give ideas and opinions so we are on the right track in matters of importance such as renewable energy.

“They are young but have lots of experience in their respective fields. Imagine if they serve a couple of terms as a Member of Parliament — the knowledge and exposure they can acquire will definitely help to develop them into matured politicians and leaders not only for Warisan but also for the country,” he said.

Shafie added that as the number of young voters is increasing, youths cannot be expected to only be voters.

“We also need to expect young leaders to be leading,” he said.

When asked if the three young candidates would be able to handle the pressure of the election, Shafie responded they were not ‘greenhorns’ in politics.

“All three have experience and in fact, Amanda has been helping Warisan when it was working alongside Pakatan Harapan (PH).

“I am sure they can handle the situation — with our guidance, of course. What is crucial is to ensure we give the young leaders of the country the opportunity to gain the experience,” he said.

To the question of whether Warisan, by fielding young candidates, can win the three seats which do not belong to Warisan, Shafie said there were many factors the voters will be considering before making their choice.

“Their young age does not mean they cannot do it and it is not only based on the fact the seat does not belong to Warisan. Even in the past, we contested in seats where the seat did not belong to us such as in Kota Belud where Munirah won the seat for Warisan with a resounding majority.

“What is important is Malaysians from Sabah make the bold move to vote for the right leaders from the younger generation who will not be ‘seat warmers’ in Parliament but are instead vocal on issues affecting the people,” he said.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by NANCY LAI

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