The veterinarian switched his allegiance to the newly set up Parti Anak Negeri (PAN) on Nov 1 last year.
Bosi defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) incumbent Edward Khoo of MCA with a 7,287-vote majority in a 4-cornered fight to take the seat that is part of the Penampang parliamentary constituency.
He thumped Khoo 13,020 votes to 5,733 while Chong Pit Fah of SAPP obtained 2,030 votes. Philip Among of Star had to settle for 720 votes.
The Kepayan electorate of about 32,000 voters comprises more than 48% Chinese, nearly 41% non-Muslim Bumiputera and about 8% Muslim Bumiputera.
The constituency is home to the Sabah police headquarters and the state prison, both of which were built there more than 50 years ago.
Being next to Kota Kinabalu, Kepayan has seen rapid development in terms of housing such as condominiums and apartments as well as commercial buildings in recent years.
These developments now envelop the 20 or so villages in Kepayan.
Bosi’s concern is that these villages that have existed for generations could literally be drowned by “progress” which would threaten a way of life for the mostly Kadazandusun folk.
“All too often, when shophouses or a condominium block is built it would involve land filling that raises the ground level next to the surrounding kampungs,” he pointed out.
“Guess where the runoff is going to flow after a downpour?” he asked.
He said flooding has been a persistent problem in Kepayan due to insufficient drainage channels and a lack of holistic approach to the development of the constituency.
“It’s frustrating when those hit by the floods expect us to address this problem and they don’t understand our role as the opposition.
“What we can do is to prick the conscience of the civil servants by writing letters or emails to them,” he said.
As a first term state assemblyman, the past five years have been a learning experience about his role in the opposition.
“Our role is to be the check and balance of the government and we have done that,” said Bosi.
The State Assembly is the platform for him to play this role most effectively.
Bosi is proud that he has raised on average 15 questions at each of the three sessions the State Assembly held a year.
“As an opposition representative, my role is to question the government about things like its spending activities. If we know a road can be built for RM100,000 but it turns out to be five times more, our job is to ask why,” he said.
His questions to the government in the assembly has ranged from security in the state’s east coast to forestry and land issues.
Bosi, who began his political career in PKR before moving to DAP, said his constituents saw him as someone they could count on.
“I hope it is the same thing this time around and my message to them is that PAN is a local party and it’s a party for us,” he added.
Bosi acknowledges that the coming election will see him facing at least two formidable foes.
While DAP wants to reclaim the seat won under the party’s banner five years ago, BN is also gunning for the constituency that was wrested from it in 2013.
MCA president Liow Tiong Lai has said that BN could better represent Kepayan folk whom he said were not served by Bosi over the past five years.
Asked about these daunting prospects, Bosi said with a smile: “Bring it on.”