SANDAKAN: Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) will not stop its former Sabah founding member Hamzah Abdullah from contesting as an independent candidate in the Sandakan parliamentary by-election as long as he does not involve the party, says its communication director Khalid Abdul Samad today.
“We respect his (Hamzah) decision to quit Amanah to compete as an independent candidate. That’s his right.
“But I hope Hamzah will not use Amanah’s name in his election campaign,” he told reporters after visiting the Sandakan Tropical Rainforest Park here.
On Tuesday, Sabah Amanah lodged a police report against Hamzah claiming several individuals distributing the independent candidate’s leaflet were seen wearing shirts with the Amanah party logo at Kim Fung Market, Batu 4 here.
Khalid, who is also the Federal Territories Minister, also stressed that Amanah supported DAP candidate Vivian Wong Shir Yee in the Sandakan by-election and did not regard DAP as the enemy of Muslims and the Malay community.
“It’s just a political game that goes on in the peninsular. We hope in Sabah it will not be an issue,” he added.
The Sandakan parliamentary by-election on May 11 witnessed a five-cornered fight involving Wong, Hamzah, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) candidate Datuk Linda Tsen Thau Lin and two other independents – businessman Chia Siew Yung and former administrative assistant at the Sandakan parliamentary constituency service centre Sulaiman Samat.
Sandakan parliamentary by-election is being held following the death of its incumbent MP Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt of a heart attack on March 28.
Earlier, Khalid attended a briefing on the development of Sandakan Tropical Rainforest Park and the Ujana Elopura recreational park by National Landscape Department director-general Rotina Mohd Daik.
Rotina said 148.6 hectares of Sandakan Tropical Rainforest Park was developed by the National Landscape Department in 2003, costing RM1.9 million and its management was taken over by the Sabah Forestry Department in 2004 which injected another RM3.3 million for further upgrading of facilities in the park.
Meanwhile, she said, the 11.3 hectares of the Ujana Elopura recreational park was developed at a cost of almost RM3.4 million in 2016 and its management was taken over by the Sandakan Municipal Council the following year (2017). – Bernama
