Sabah's interiors are all for BN

The Barisan Nasional (BN) holds the upper hand in five parliamentary and 11 state seats in lower and upper interiors of Sabah during the 13th General Election, on Sunday.

A Bernama survey however, revealed that BN needed to work extra hard to ensure that the Beaufort parliamentary and four state seats will remain in the BN fold.

The three-cornered tussle for the Beaufort seat will see former federal deputy minister Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin, who is contesting under the PKR ticket, taking on BN candidate Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun and Guan Dee Koh Hoi of Star.

Muslim Bumiputera make up about 62 per cent of the 30,097 voters in the Beaufort parliamentary constituency.

The other four parliamentary seats are Keningau, Tenom, Pensiangan and Sipitang, which are involved in three to five-cornered fights.

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan who is defending the Tambunan constituency, is facing his younger brother Datuk Dr Jeffrey, in a repeat three-cornered fight for the Parliamentary seat which has 43,691 voters.

In the 2008 General Election, Pairin defeated Jeffrey in a three-cornered fight with a 4,264-vote majority.

Pairin, being the 'Huguan Siou' or paramount leader of the Kadazan, Dusun and Murut community, still commands huge respect among the community and is expected to continue his legacy.

Beaufort is considered a 'hot-spot' due to public perception that Lajim enjoys some kind of personal popularity in the area, but local folks are in fact worried of a negative impact to the district should Lajim retain the seat.

They say Lajim had completely failed to see the huge potential for socio-economic development growth in Beaufort.

"The various socio-economic development projects that has been implemented or are taking place in the district were the best opportunity for him to play a significant role as a BN wakil rakyat.

"How is he (Lajim) going to deliver even if he wins the election (as an opposition)," says Ambrose, a resident in Beaufort.

Raimi Unggi, the incumbent for the Tenom parliamentary seat who had garnered 6,883 votes in the 2008 General Election, is facing opponents from SAPP, Star, PKR and Kita.

Meanwhile, the hotly contested state seats are Bingkor, Sook, Klias and Kuala Penyu, which involves either four or six-cornered fights.

The BN is fielding new-comer, Kennedy Jie John @ Kenn in the Bingkor state seat and face three other candidates, including Star's Sabah chapter chief, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

BN won the seat in 2008, through Justin Guka with a majority of 171 votes.

Limus Jury, also a new-comer, is BN's hope in the Kuala Penyu state seat which BN had won in 2008 with a 257-vote majority.