KOTA KINABALU, Nov 11 — Former foreign minister Tan Sri Anifah Aman is set to contest the Bongawan seat for the second time in the upcoming state election, this time under the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) banner.
GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor confirmed Anifah — who is also the younger brother of Sabah Governor Tun Musa Aman — as the coalition’s candidate today.
“If GRS, its component parties, and its machinery remain strong and united, with the people’s support, I am confident Bongawan will belong to GRS. We want to win and bring progress here,” Hajiji said during a visit to the west coast district today.
Anifah, who leads Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), is expected to face the incumbent from Parti Warisan, Datuk Daud Yusof, as well as Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Mohamad Alamin — the Kimanis MP and Anifah’s former protégé.
This will be Anifah’s second attempt at the Bongawan seat. In 2020, he contested under a PCS ticket but lost by 1,800 votes to Daud, securing 28 per cent of the votes to Daud’s 42 per cent.
PCS later joined GRS as a component party, and Hajiji appointed Anifah to a newly created position as special adviser to the Sabah chief minister on international relations and foreign investments.
In 2023, Anifah was appointed to the Senate and also named chairman of Labuan Corporation.
This will be his third time contesting in a state election. His first was in 1994, when he contested the Klias seat under Umno but lost to the late Datuk Lajim Ukin, who was then with PBS.
Anifah first entered Parliament in 1999, winning the Beaufort seat under the Barisan Nasional (BN) banner. In 2004, he shifted to the Kimanis constituency, which he retained for four terms until 2018.
He won the Kimanis seat again in the 2018 general election, but the results were later voided by the court due to discrepancies in the electoral process. A by-election was subsequently held, which saw Mohamad Alamin win the seat.
Anifah served as foreign minister from 2009 to 2018 under then–prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
