‘Choose candidate who will fight for your home turf’

Contenders get into hands-on action with local folk in Bayan Lepas

VOTERS should choose assemblymen who will lobby for attention from state governments and local authorities to help them gain a better quality of life in their neighbourhoods.

This is the call from Pakatan Harapan’s Bayan Lepas candidate Azrul Mahathir Aziz, who noted that last year’s 15th General Election (GE15) parliamentary voting patterns in his constituency had leaned towards Perikatan Nasional.

“Voters in state polls should think of their home territories when choosing their assemblymen.

“You want an elected representative who can walk into government offices with the problems in your communities and work out solutions with friendly parties.

“We need Malaysians to develop political maturity and a grasp of state administrations to understand this for their own good,” he said, stressing that whatever a voter felt about national politics was secondary to the needs of their home’s community in state elections.

The Bayan Lepas state seat is one of at least 15 that political analysts are watching closely, as Pakatan did not get the majority vote based on GE15 data.

According to GE15 voting statistics, 40.1% of Bayan Lepas voters chose Pakatan, 20.07% chose Barisan Nasional and 38.8% chose Perikatan.

If the political vibes of last November still hold and the Pakatan-Barisan unity translates into an amalgamation of votes, then Perikatan can expect to fail in its attempts to take this state seat.

Oh handing out copies of his election manifesto at the Bayan Baru Market.

Azrul Mahathir is facing Perikatan’s Datuk Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai in a straight fight for this seat.

Besides Bayan Lepas constituency, three other state seats which have Malay-majority voters are also under close watch as voting patterns showed that Pakatan could not secure simple majorities in these areas during the parliamentary polls.

In the adjacent Pulau Betong state seat, Pakatan won 38.41% of the votes while Perikatan secured 33.39% and Barisan 26.77%.

More to the north, the Teluk Bahang state seat saw 35.52% of voters choosing Pakatan during GE15, 33.72% picking Perikatan and 29.34% opting for Barisan.

In the Batu Maung state seat, which is in Bayan Baru parliamentary constituency, Pakatan raked in 48.77% of the votes, followed by Perikatan (30.42%) and Barisan (19.92%).

Meanwhile, Penang Perikatan deputy chairman Oh Tong Keong said the lack of town planning and infrastructure development on the island’s more rural southwest corner would be main issues to address.

“In recent years, there have been frequent flooding and traffic congestion in many places in that area.

“If given the mandate, we promise to bring better developments to alleviate the problems and turn them into successful townships,” he said.

Oh is contesting the Pantai Jerejak state seat.

He will be up against Fahmi Zainol from Pakatan, Priyankaa Loh (Muda) and Ravinder Singh (Parti Rakyat Malaysia).

The seat was held by Pakatan’s Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who secured 14,014 votes in the 2018 state election.

Saifuddin’s opponents were Oh (3,298 votes), PAS’ Mohd Farhan Yusri (1,670 votes) and Malaysian United Party’s Yim Boon Leong (97 votes).