Speaking to FMT at his home, the former Sabah Barisan Nasional secretary said he and Anifah have a cordial relationship and nothing but mutual respect between them.
“When we met at the nomination centre last week, I told him, ‘Let’s have a gentlemanly competition’ and I assured him there are no hard feelings on my part towards him or anybody in BN,” he said.
Karim was the Kimanis Umno chief before Anifah and an assemblyman in Bongawan, a state seat within the Kimanis federal constituency. He held the seat for five terms between 1999 and 2013 but was dropped in the previous election.
Karim said there were certain people within the Sabah BN who engineered his exile from the party as far back as 2004 when he almost lost his seat to an independent candidate in a straight fight, winning the seat with only 805 votes.
However, in the next election in 2008, he retained his Bongawan seat with a much bigger majority of 5,730 votes, more than Anifah’s 5,453 votes although Karim was a contender in the state constituency within Anifah’s federal seat.
When he was dropped as a candidate in 2013, Karim said he went to see Sabah BN chairman Musa Aman to plead his case but was turned down.
He subsequently left politics but later on joined local opposition party Warisan Sabah, and was named the party’s candidate in the Kimanis seat, his first contest in a parliamentary seat.
“Honestly, I never had the intention to stand as a candidate at all. But the people, especially in Bongawan, those who have helped me win so many times, asked me to come back. How can I refuse these people when they need me?” he said.
With this kind of support, Karim is confident of his chances especially because he believes the people are unhappy with Anifah who, he said, “failed to fulfil the people’s expectations. I was told he is too selective when it comes to serving the people and he is hard to approach, very unfriendly.
“The people want me to stand because they believe I can deliver more to the people and I want to return that trust. I think I have the chance and if so, it would be considered an upset,” he said.
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http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/04/17/sabah-bn-has-issues-in-certain-seats/