An earthquake had struck Sabah’s majestic Mount Kinabalu, knocking off its famed Donkey’s Ears. At that point, though, he did not yet know the full extent of the tragedy.
It was later discovered that 18 people had died as a result of the 30-second earthquake, which registered 6.0 on the Richter scale.
The victims included students and teachers from Singapore, and four Sabahan mountain guides.
Following the quake, 137 climbers were trapped by massive boulders and debris, but they were eventually rescued.
Buildings in Ranau sustained huge damage, with the most prominent being the district mosque. Roads were also affected by the rare earthquake, which was felt in most parts of the state’s west coast, northern districts and east coast.
This would be bad news for any assemblyman, more so a tourism minister, but Masidi quickly got down to assessing the gravity of the situation.
“To be honest, I was hoping for the best,” he said. “Only when I was in Ranau did I discover it was worse than I had thought.
“I was very very sad… down is the term I would use. I was really down,” said the Sabah tourism, culture and environment minister.
“Not because it (the quake) had happened but because the lives of so many people were affected.”
As he spoke, Masidi struggled to find the words to describe the aftermath of the tragedy.
“It was very personal to me because there were lives lost and it was my hometown. In a way, I felt responsible. Not because of the earthquake but as I’m from that area, I felt responsible to try to ease the problems of what had happened,” he said.
“What happened had already happened. Even if you cried tears of blood, it wouldn’t make it better. What was important to me was what to do and to look to the future, at the well-being of the people. How were we going to help those affected by the quake?”
He said efforts were made to quickly release the bodies of victims to their families, to get charity bodies to assist those families, and to get the mountain, which was off-limits to climbers following the quake, re-opened.
“Many people, like the mountain guides and porters, depend on Mount Kinabalu as a source of income. So we had to think of them too. We managed to resume climbing operations in December 2016,” he said.
Almost three years have passed since the earthquake, and now Ranau is almost back to normal.
“The wait list for climbers stretches to a few months now,” said a relieved Masidi.
Road repairs are being done and upgrades are ongoing as well. Work has also started on rebuilding the mosque along with plans to improve the water supply in Ranau.
“Work will start this year to improve the water system using technology from Japan. I also finally managed to get Petronas to donate to the cost of building a MRSM (Mara Junior Science College) in Ranau, which will cost RM135 million,” Masidi said, adding that construction work would start this year.
Masidi said if he was nominated to stand in the coming election, he was confident of retaining his seat although he would not underestimate his opponents.
“If you ask me of my chances, I think my campaign is my track record. (For instance) I think we have done more roads than any YB (elected representative) had done before in Ranau.
“And 99% of the villages in Ranau have power supply. I am also always accessible, I think nearly all my constituents know my handphone number. I think they are happy that the YB is just one call or a WhatsApp away,” said Masidi, who is an avid social media user.
“PKR is more established in Ranau, going by track record anyway. And also probably STAR. Of course Parti Warisan Sabah is also coming in. But to be honest, in all humility, they are all about equal.
“I have never underestimated anyone who stood against me, even if I know that party is not strong,” said the Sabah Umno assistant secretary.
‘Tough but good fight’
Sabah PKR vice-chairman Kenny Chua admitted that dislodging Masidi from the state seat would be a tall order.
“Masidi will be a tough fight. He has been going around and doing his work and he is a well-liked YB. But it will be a good fight,” he said.
Chua added however that Ranau voters had had enough of Barisan Nasional (BN), citing lack of infrastructure, rising cost of living and inconsistent fuel prices as the major factors.
He said going by the trend in the last election and the performance of all PKR candidates for the Ranau federal seat and state seats of Karanaan, Kundasang and Paginatan, his party would have a good chance of winning this time around.
“In the last election, we did very well as we only lost marginally. We lost because of the split votes,” he said, adding that PKR aimed to contest the Ranau seat in GE14 although it was still negotiating with local opposition parties.
“But even if we take the state seats, we will do well too. They (the people) look at what they’re facing now and they should already realise it has not been good living under BN,” he said.
Chua said PKR’s machinery in Ranau, under the leadership of division chief Jonathan Yassin, had not stopped working since the last election.
“They have also been making inroads, including into supposedly BN-hardcore areas in the interior of Ranau,” he added.
In May 2013, Masidi polled 6,292 votes to beat former state education director and PKR candidate Muhiddin Yusin who garnered 2,792 votes.
Jalidin Paidi of STAR received 1,067 votes while independent Mat Jaili Samat got 31 votes.
About 84% of the 12,456 voters in Ranau comprise non-Muslim Bumiputeras, 11% are Muslim Bumiputeras while Chinese voters account for about 5%.