KOTA KINABALU – Traffic congestion and flash floods remain unresolved for Inanam voters as political parties are gearing up for the Sabah polls.
Some 10km from Kota Kinabalu city, the district is home to thousands of Sabahans who are hired in manufacturing, engineering and import-export.
The industrial estate is in Kolombong and roads to Sepanggar port 14km away are often choked with traffic as lorries rush to deliver shipments out of Sabah.
Despite the many road upgrades over 10 years, Inanam has one of the worst traffic congestion and road conditions in the Kota Kinabalu constituency.
Flooding and regular power cuts are also pressing issues for the district, affecting industrial activities, businesses and quality of life.
Many Inanam voters have grown disillusioned with empty election promises as well as the actions of incumbent assemblyman and former Sabah PKR vice-chairman Kenny Chua.
Chua, in early August, defected to be part of an alliance that rallied behind Umno’s Sg Sibuga assemblyman Tan Sri Musa Aman’s botched bid to topple the Warisan-led Sabah government.
A PKR source told The Vibes that Chua made the wrong move when he defected as a majority of Sabahans voted against Barisan Nasional (BN), rejecting Musa as chief minister.
“It was anything but Musa and anything but BN in the 2018 general election,” the source said.
Caretaker chief minister and Warisan president Mohd Shafie Apdal on July 30 called for the dissolution of the state assembly after Musa declared he had a simple majority after several assemblymen crossed over to his camp.
Grouses on the ground
Jameyson Atang, 45, a vegetable seller at the Inanam market, has expressed unhappiness over Chua’s defection.
“We thought that he was a genuine person. We voted for him even though he is an outsider. PKR should have just picked an Inanam resident to be our rep.
“It’s better to have one of us to deal with the real problems in Inanam.”
Jameyson, who has three children, now believes Inanam will be a free-for-all constituency where all parties can compete in.
He said Liberal Democractic Party, Warisan and Parti Cinta Sabah have expressed interest to contest in Inanam.
“We are seeing some of the state’s political big guns expressing interest to contest here.
“We heard Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking and former Sabah chief minister Chong Kah Kiat are interested in Inanam.”
Chua, who was Penampang PKR chief, is likely to defend his seat on the Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku ticket.
He is expected to face a Sabah PKR leader, who is an Inanam resident.
In 2018, Chua contested in place of former Inanam assemblyman Roland Chia due to PKR’s internal conflict.
Chia was aligned to the former PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Chua won Inanam with a 7,783 vote-majority against Parti Bersatu Sabah’s Johnny Goh.
The Inanam population consists mainly of Dusun and the Chinese but over the years there has been a large influx of immigrants from southern Philippines and Indonesia living in squatter houses.
A large number of migrants can be seen peddling smuggled cigarettes in Inanam town.
Restaurant operator, Julia Saidin, said many locals are worried over the presence of the migrant communities in the area.
“So as long as they stay there (near a night market) and do not go into the area where my restaurant is, I am okay with them.
“There have been many raids from the authorities, but the migrants still return to restart their small illegal businesses again,” she said. – The Vibes, September 24, 2020
