KOTA KINABALU: At 27-years-old and being Sabah Barisan Nasional’s (BN) youngest candidate, Ceasar Mandela Malakun does not shy away from the responsibility tasked to regain Penampang parliamentary seat.
The group general manager for a property development company wants to bring change to the constituency, which was won by opposition last election, by becoming the voice of the younger generation.
In the previous election, former Upko president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok – who has retired from politics and is now Ambassador to the Vatican City - lost the seat to Darrell Leiking who contested under PKR ticket, but is now Parti Warisan Sabah deputy president.
Being a first-timer, Mandela draws his strength from studying law abroad and from his father who is a well-known figure in Penampang and a former assemblyman.
“It will not be an easy task (to win back Penampang from opposition), but we will work hard. We started our efforts a couple of months ago,” he said after the Sabah BN candidates announcement today.
The Penampang native from United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) is one of six candidates under the age of 40 presented by BN Sabah for the 14th General Election.
Another young candidate from Upko, 36-year-old Ewon Benedick who is representing Kadamaian through a seat swap deal with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), said he was ready to serve the folks there and has been working on the ground for the last couple of years.
Kadamaian was traditionally a PBS seat but the party exchanged it for Bingkor seat which was previously alloted to Upko.
Ewon who served as Dompok’s press secretary from 2008 to 2011, presently works as the State Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry’s political secretary.
Four more below 40 club fielded by BN is Chan Tzun Hei, 35, (Elopura state seat); Arthur Joseph Kurup, 36, (Pensiangan parliament seat ); Loh Su Fui, 37, (Sri Tanjong state seat) and Lim Ting Kai, 35, (Merotai).