KUCHING: On the eve of the Hari Malaysia day this year, Sarawak was shocked and saddened with the passing of Jepak incumbent Datuk Talib Zulpilip.
The former minister in the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Office (Integrity and Ombudsman) died of complications to his kidneys at 5.50 pm on Sept 15 after being admitted to the hospital a day before.
The late Talib had served as Jepak assemblyman for six terms since 1996.
He retained the seat with a total of 6,277 votes in the 12th Sarawak state election in 2021 under the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) ticket.
Following his demise, the Election Commission fixed Nov 4 as polling day for the Jepak state seat by-election in Sarawak and nomination on Oct 21.
Although the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) proposed many potential names, GPS had announced the former Sarawak National Anti-Drug Agency director (AADK) Iskandar Turkee – a non-party member – as their candidate for the Jepak by-election.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, who is also the GPS chairman said the candidate was chosen by consensus within Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), with support from the state coalition’s other component parties.
He said Iskandar, 54, who was born in Bintulu, is capable of continuing Talib’s work together with the people of Jepak.
The greenhorn faced challenges from the local opposition parties, namely Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) candidate Stevenson Joseph Sumbang and Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) candidate Chieng Lea Phing.
Meanwhile, both peninsula-based coalitions, Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN), chose to stay out of the by-election.
The constituency has 22,804 registered voters, consisting of 22,761 ordinary voters and 43 policemen.
As expected, Iskandar retained Jepak for GPS after he secured 9,638 votes in the by-election to win with a majority of 8,784 votes, which is more than double that garnered by the coalition in the state election two years ago.
His opponents, Stevenson and Chieng only managed to receive 854 and 431 votes respectively.
A total of 10,923 people voted in the Jepak by-election with 48.57 per cent turnout.
Jepak by-election director of operations and Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said though the voting percentage was less than his initial target of 55 per cent, GPS had surprisingly won in all the polling districts in the by-election.
Among the factors causing the low percentage of voters casting their votes were the names of those who had died but were still available in the voter registration system, apart from the presence of voters outside of Bintulu due to their work commitments.
“There are also employers who do not allow their workers to go to the polls because for them it is only a by-election and not a general election,” he said.
However, Abang Johari was optimistic that the result (of having higher majority votes) showed that the people of Sarawak accepted and supported the policies brought by the GPS.
GPS also won in all polling districts and voting channels where there were young voters in suburban, urban and rural areas, which showed that the people were very confident with the GPS government and the state policies.
