I Am Not Using My Beauty To Fish For Votes: Jo Anna
TUARAN: Jo Anna Henley Rampas may be a former beauty queen, but she does not want, nor does she hope, to woo voters just by her looks.The Parti Warisan Sabah candidate for the Kiulu state seat, in fact, is a well-educated woman who comes from a long line of local leaders.
The Unduk Ngadau for the 2007 Kaamatan Festival, Jo Anna was the focus of many, newsmen and members of the public alike, after the nomination process at Dewan Sri Sulaman today.
“I am not using my beauty to fish for votes,” she said as the media made a beeline for her.
Jo Anna will be facing Parti Bersatu Sabah’s Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, who is defending the seat for Barisan Nasional, Terence Sinti of Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) and Parti Cinta Sabah’s Gaibin Ransoi.
But the 29-year-old is not fazed by the tough competition she faces.
“My grandfather on my mother’s side was a community leader in Kiulu at one time, and my uncle Louis Rampas was a former state assemblyman here, for three terms.
“My mother stood as a BN candidate here as well, in 1994. So, perhaps this is one of the reasons I decided to get into politics,” she later told the New Straits Times Press.
Jo Anna, who is of British-Dusun parentage, was born in Kota Kinabalu and raised by her grandmother in Kampung Poturidong, Kiulu, until she was aged 9.
She then moved to Penampang and later to Kuala Lumpur.
She said, if chosen, she intended to work to increase the earnings of rubber tappers and fight for land grant issues in Kiulu.
“I really hope that people don’t put too much emphasis on my looks, to the point that they think I am using it to get votes,” she said.
Meanwhile, Joniston said an elected representative should be appraised based on his or her efforts to help the people, and most definitely not because of looks.
“As a true son of Kiulu, I understand the problems and the needs of the people here, especially since I came from a family which was not well off and used to tap rubber, plant padi and walk a long way just to get to school,” he said.
The Kiulu state seat falls under the Tuaran parliamentary and has 12,978 registered voters.
- NST
