FIRST-TIME member of parliament Chan Foong Hin is known to many Sabahans for being a firebrand of sorts, thanks to his heated debates while he was the Sri Tanjong assemblyman.

Not one to shy away from going head-on with his fellow politicians, including the likes of former federal energy minister Maximus Ongkili and several Warisan leaders, Chan has been unapologetic for crossing swords with other assemblymen in the past.

In the 14th general election, Chan gave up his state seat and ran for the Kota Kinabalu federal seat. He won and will mark his debut in the Dewan Rakyat sitting next Monday.

“The party (DAP) felt I could do more in Parliament,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He has set his sights on bringing to fore what he believes are two of the main problems that his constituency faces – traffic woes and the rising price of housing.

Statistics from City Hall revealed that the number of vehicles in Sabah’s capital city has risen exponentially from 77,000 entering and leaving each day to 140,000 in 2016.

This is largely due to the affordability of cars and the inefficiency of the present public transport, Chan said.

Another urgent issue is the rising prices of houses and apartments in the city, with some units hitting the RM1 million mark, making them beyond the middle-income household affordability.

Chan said plans to build more affordable homes should be done in the city outskirts while the government plans ways to reduce rural migration.

“This means job creation should be done in the respective districts before more migrate into the city,” he said.

Another issue close to his heart is the reinstatement of Sabah’s rights.

Under the Pakatan Harapan “New Deal” manifesto, Sabah will have its state rights reinstated, oil royalty raised from 5% to 20%, and 50% of the revenues collected returned to the state

“I hope to see that the new deal offered to Sabah is implemented. I also want a more meaningful devolution of power and transparent decentralisation of federal powers back to the state.”

Chan said Sabah’s equal-partner status within the federation had long been neglected, adding that he doesn’t want the issue to be constantly played up to win votes.

“This is nothing personal and it is not Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s fault who marginalised Sabah, nor is it embattled Najib Razak’s… it is about the federal being given too much power and dominance.” – July 10, 2018.