KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Ewon Benedick's name is well known among the people of Sabah, especially the Kadazan Dusun Murut Rungus community.
Hailing from Kampung Penampang Proper in Penampang, Ewon, 39, is an approachable "boy of the village", hence his appointment as the federal entrepreneurship and cooperative development minister was met with joy and high hopes to improve the country and Sabah.
The vice-president of the United Kinabalu Progressive Organisation (Upko) was born on Aug 1, 1983 in the village of his father, Benedick Yong Santung @ Donik, in Kampung Penampang Proper. His mother, Gobidah Gindai, is from Kampung Kiau in Kota Belud.
Ewon graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science (software development) from Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (2002–2005).
Earlier, he attended the Kinabalu Ibukota Matriculation College (2001–2002) and SMK St Michael in Penampang (1999–2000).
In his political career, the young man of Kadazan ethnicity was active in Upko, serving as Upko Ketua Komulakan (2006-2018), division head of Kota Belud (2013-2022) and vice-president of the party from 2018 to date.
He will take over as Upko president from Tuaran MP Wilfred Madius Tangau at the party's congress on Jan 14 and 15 next year.
Ewon has also served as the Sabah rural development minister (2018–2020).
He was the Kadamaian assemblyman for two terms when he won the seat with a majority of 3,294 votes in the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018. He clinched a majority of 3,459 votes in the 16th Sabah State Election in 2020.
In GE15, Ewon, representing Pakatan Harapan, won the Penampang parliamentary seat with a majority of 14,410 votes, defeating the incumbent Datuk Darell Liking from Parti Warisan in a four-cornered race. — BERNAMA