Lajim still a good bet for opposition

Luke Rintod

Neither disparaging remarks nor allegations spun by his detractors are likely to affect Lajim Ukin's ability to win in the general election.

KOTA KINABALU: Irrespective of what blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) writes and Barisan Nasional leaders reveal, Sabah MP Lajim Ukin is still a good investment for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Among his constituents and ardent local political observers, the currently much-talked about Beaufort MP may still win big in the coming polls.

They opined that the former federal deputy minister of housing and local government, who jumped from ruling Umno to the opposition side recently, would win in least two parliamentary and three state assembly seats.

Malik Unar, 74, a Sabah political writer, is one of those who believes so, saying Lajim would win easily in his former state seat of Klias and retain even his Beaufort seat if he decides to go for both.

“He will win there easily… He or his men or associates will take Kuala Penyu and Lumadan state seats and the Sipitang parliamentary seat,” claimed the veteran writer who hailed from Membakut in Beaufort.

Malik has written several political books during his prolific years including while Lajim was still with PBS (1984-1994).

“Lajim served his constituents very well… people identify with him easily. He will win no matter what others say about him,” he claimed when asked by reporters for his opinion at a meeting in Kota Kinabalu recently.

Even though Lajim has become a subject of ridicule in RPK’s blogsite Malaysia Today, many here still believe it would not harm his reputation, at least among his own “Bisaya folks” in Beaufort vicinity.

Lajim served people

A local political analyst, who wished to be known only as Taufik, told FMT that “it is all about services that Lajim rendered” that matter to the voters in the area.

“Other Yang Berhormats may not be able to pull [off] what Lajim could do. They jump and they lose, but in Lajim’s case he would still win because he had been good to the rakyat ever since he was PBS assemblyman in the 1980s…” Taufik said.

In the last general election in 2008, Lajim won Beaufort with a thumping majority, gaining 14,780 votes against his sole rival Lajim Mohd Yusof of PKR who obtained 3,866 votes.

Lajim was subsequently appointed federal deputy transport minister before moving to his last portfolio in 2009.

In July he renounced his position in Umno to align himself with Pakatan Rakyat without quitting Umno membership and his ministerial post.

That forced Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to sack him and revoke his federal post. Since then he has been based in Beaufort campaigning almost daily for the looming election that many believe will be a do-or-die battle for Umno-led Barisan Nasional.

It is also rumoured here that Lajim is in talks with several Umno senior leaders in Sabah. It is expected at least one or two people’s representatives would ditch BN ahead of the polls.