KOTA KINABALU: Bersatu’s Datuk Wetrom Bahanda will be Parti Demokratik Kesejahteraan Masyarakat’s (KDM) candidate for the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election.

KDM president Datuk Peter Anthony announced this after attending a dinner held by the Kota Kinabalu KDM division here on Friday (Oct 21).

He added that Wetrom has been appointed as the KDM deputy president under the Muslim bumiputra quota.

Wetrom, who is Bandau assemblyman, had quit Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and was initially speculated to join Party Warisan.

Anthony also announced that state tourism figure Datuk Seri Winston Liaw Kit Siong would be KDM’s candidate for Kota Kinabalu.

Anthony, who is Melalap assemblyman, however, stopped short of disclosing the other seats being eyed by his party.

“For the time being, we have not decided (on which or the number of seats to contest).

“At the moment, it is only Kota Marudu and Kota Kinabalu as I have announced.

“So, we’ll just have to wait. The nomination day will be upon us soon,” the former Parti Warisan vice-president told a press conference.

KDM has applied to join GRS but has yet to be accepted into the coalition, which currently has five parties, namely Bersatu Sabah chapter, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Sabah STAR, Sabah Progressive Party and the United National Sabah Organisation.

To a question, Anthony said that KDM remained on good terms with GRS, which is led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

He said there was nothing wrong for KDM to test its strength as a newly minted party in the national polls.

“We are still friendly to GRS (and) as I have said before, the Chief Minister is a leader who has no match.

“It’s just that at the party level, we decided to enter the race because it is a parliamentary election but at the state level, we will continue to support GRS,” he said.

Anthony also announced that the party will contest using its rafflesia logo in GE15.

“This is our debut, so let’s see how we perform,” he said.

Wetrom meanwhile explained that he chose to join KDM as his new political vessel after listening to the grassroots in Kota Marudu.

“I made the decision to leave Bersatu after considering the situation in Kota Marudu and listening to the people’s aspirations.

“At first, I thought of joining Warisan, as you all know, but I then made the decision to join KDM after listening to the voices of the grassroots who said this party is the best outfit to uphold (the rights of) Sabahans,” he said.