In the past months as the 14th General Election was approaching, Member of Parliament for Santubong, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has given his word to the people that he would defend the seat should he be given the chance. He was and today (May 9) the voters will give the verdict.
The Santubong Parliamentary Constituency covers three State Constituencies, namely, Tanjung Datu, Demak Laut and Pantai Damai which are held by Datuk Amar Jamilah Anu, Dr Hazland Hipni and Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi respectively.
Born on February 1, 1946, Wan Junaidi has a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the University of Southern California, USA.
Prior to entering the political arena, he was the Platoon Leader for Pasukan Polis Hutan with an Inspector rank. During the Communist insurgency in Malaysia, Wan Junaidi was involved in the battle from 1969 to 1973. He then became a lawyer.
Wan Junaidi was first elected to the Parliament in the year 1990 after obtaining 5,795 votes against W. Habib Mahmud with 3,130 votes for Batang Lupar. His position as the Member of Parliament for Batang Lupar went on unopposed in the 9th General Election.
However, he was challenged by Syid Assimie Ismail in the next general election. But, he was not fazed by the competition as he obtained 72 per cent of the votes which allowed him to continue on as Batang Lupar’s Member of Parliament.
In the 11th General Election, Wan Junaidi competed for the Parliamentary seat of Santubong and won with nearly 12,600 votes which has enabled him to retain the seat until present.
Prior to his appointment as the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, he was one of the Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives (Parliament) in 2008.
After the 13th General Election, he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs which he held for two years under the leadership of Dato’ Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Home Minister.
Following the reshuffling of the Cabinet by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2015, Wan Junaidi was promoted as the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.
On the parliamentary constituency, the incumbent is convinced that the area is set for further development in the future due to the historical and strategic locality of Santubong.
“The government has allocated RM500 million to upgrade the bridges in Santubong and the upgrading project will cover Telaga Air to Sampadi, Lundu. The project is expected to be completed in 2020,” he said, adding that the project would shorten the travel duration from Kuching to Lundu.
In his effort to ensure that the constituents’ welfare is taken care of, Wan Junaidi’s ministry has also approved an allocation of RM3 million to save and prevent riverbanks from erosion as there are still families who live by the river.
He also took the initiative to provide assistance to the poor through his own project known as “Projek Rumah Ihsan Wan Junaidi” (PRIWJ) which started since 2015.
In a recent interview with the press, Wan Junaidi said that successful applicants of his initiative were assessed based on their inability to build their own houses. At present, 18 houses have been completed and another 18 would be built and the recipients have been identified.
On his health, the 72-year-old stressed that he was still in good health and would be able to continue delivering good service to the people.
