In fact, he is so well-liked that even his political foes have not been able to find anything to complain about him.
Likewise, the Sabah assistant infrastructure development minister would not utter a single negative word against his rivals.
“I would rather work for the people while I watch developments and the strategies of my ‘friends’. I call them friends because I never consider them my enemies,” he said when asked about his potential challengers in the coming election.
The Kawang seat is one of two state seats under the Papar parliamentary constituency. Ghulam’s niece Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin is the MP.
Muslim Bumiputeras make up about 60% of the more than 22,000 voters, while 34% are non-Muslim Bumiputeras and 6% Chinese.
Ghulam retained the seat in the 2013 election after defeating his closest rival from PKR, Kefli Safar, by a 8,900-vote majority. He obtained 12,301 votes, a healthy 73% of the total votes cast.
The other state seat, Pantai Manis, is currently held by Barisan Nasional (BN) backbencher club chairman Rahim Ismail.
Over the past five years, Ghulam has overseen rapid development in his area, particularly in terms of housing for the low and middle-income groups, with the construction of two new people’s housing projects in Kinarut and Beringgis as well as a PR1MA project, also in Beringgis.
Private developers also favour Ghulam’s constituency for their projects, partly because of its vicinity to the Sabah capital of Kota Kinabalu.
Kinarut town is only about 15 minutes away from here and also because of its flat terrain and easy access to Kota Kinabalu.
While the increase in population is much welcomed to help boost the economy in this satellite town, it has also brought with it other problems, particularly flooding, due to the failure to upgrade the drainage system to keep up with the various projects.
But, flooding is a fairly new problem.
The mother of all problems in Kawang remains the Kinarut refugee camp.
Opened in the early 1980s by UN refugee agency UNHCR, the camp sits on a 4.4ha plot of prime land overlooking the beautiful Kinarut beach. It is home to more than 1,000 families, some of whom have intermarried with the locals.
“When I was a backbencher in Parliament between 2004 and 2008, I repeatedly brought the refugee camp issue to the attention of Parliament, seeking ways to permanently close the camp and resettle those eligible somewhere else,” said Rosnah.
“Both Ghulam and I have asked UNHCR to come up with an action plan on what they want to do with the undocumented refugees.
“The camp must be closed because it causes a lot of social problems. Once closed, we can use the land to build new settlements for our own people,” said Rosnah.
The camp has been blamed for many of the residents’ problems in the district.
Over the years, many robberies have taken place in nearby villages, with the culprits mostly from the camp.
An improved situation in the Philippines today has raised the question of whether these Filipinos can still be regarded as refugees.
Long ago, UNHCR stopped providing funds to the camp, resulting in many of these foreigners working outside the camp.
“The refugees dare to expand the camp area, encroaching on nearby village land. Today, the camp has become the biggest syabu distribution den in Papar,” said Rosnah.
The children of these refugees make up more than 60% of the total student population at SK Pekan Kinarut.
As a result, parents prefer to send their children to other schools within Kawang constituency, including to the only Chinese-medium school near SK Pekan Kinarut, rather than enrol them at the school.
But despite these issues, even Ghulam’s closest rival, Parti Warisan Sabah, recognises it will be difficult to topple the three-term assemblyman because of the people’s attachment to him.
“The only chance we have is if Ghulam decides not to contest the seat again,” said a Warisan leader.
At the same time, the opposition parties, especially local-based Gabungan Sabah leaders, have accused Ghulam of turning a blind eye to the refugee camp issue, saying BN has benefited from these people whom they allege have been given MyKad to vote for the ruling coalition.
They say the refugees have been living comfortable lives and have even been provided with water storage tanks.
There are also some within the BN camp who are unsure of Ghulam’s chances this time around, especially because the young voters are not keen to vote for “veteran politicians”.
Ghulam, however, remained coy about his chances of running again, saying: “If the people still want me, if the voters want me to stand again, then I will.
“I think it is not the right time to comment on politics yet. All parties may have different ideologies and that is our democratic right.
“The most important thing in our objective must be to fight for the people, regardless of their race and religion.”