The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- GE13: Penggaram candidate Dr King to address all issues after general election
- GE13:Assemblyman sets aside personal duties to defend Cheka seat
- GE13: Opposition parties not contesting in areas told to remove banners
| GE13: Penggaram candidate Dr King to address all issues after general election Posted: 01 May 2013 06:37 PM PDT BATU PAHAT: MANY poor and needy still do not know how to seek help and Dr King Ban Siang said he wants to tackle the problem immediately after the general election. He said the sad state of affair could be traced to communication problems between the relevant government agencies and the people on the ground. He said the Government had put in place many programmes to help the people, citing the 1Malaysia People's Aid or BRIM as an example. Despite that, he said many people were either unaware of the availability of the different types of aid or did not know how to apply for them. Dr King who is vying the Penggaram state seat said one of his immediate task after the elections was to set up a people-friendly service centre. He said the centre would use at least two languages - Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin - and also make available the relevant information to the people. Of the 45,259 voters in Penggaram, 61.5% are Chinese, 35.8% Malay and 2.3% Indian. The 33-year-old medical doctor's ability to empathise with the people, especially the poor, and his strong bond with the locals can be traced to his service in the Batu Pahat Hospital and Batu Pahat Health Clinic for five years. Penggaram is one of the three state seats under the Batu Pahat parliamentary constituency. Just like what a doctor does when treating patients, Dr King said an elected representative must be able to identify the problems and have the ability and perseverance to resolve them. Singling out the poor drainage system in Batu Pahat which saw folks being plagued by floods since Independence, Dr King said it took then Penggaram assemblyman and state executive councillor Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek 10 years and RM75mil to resolve it phase by phase in the late 1990's. It was a huge relief for everybody after that, he recalled. Like Dr Chua, Dr King said the attitude of an elected representative in wanting to do good to the people was very important. On candidates from both sides of the divide going all out to woo the voters, he said people should not allow themselves to be easily influenced by political talk. "We have to think of our day to day living and local issues that need to be resolved after polling on Sunday," he stressed. Dr King said he learned a lot in the last two years when he and his team, including councillors and grassroots leaders went to the ground to help the people. They needed help for things like writing an authorisation letter or applying for welfare aid. Many also sought advice or help for all kinds of problems, he added. Dr King who also heads the Batu Pahat 1MCA Medical Foundation said 72 families had received help from the foundation, with a total sum of RM680,000 given out in the last two years. Well, social work is also something that Dr King is familiar with because his late father, King Tiong King had played a very active role in many non-governmental associations and Chinese societies in Batu Pahat. In fact, Dr King's wife, Ang Cai Wei, hopes her husband could follow his late father's footsteps by helping more people and also continue to bring development to Batu Pahat. Ang, 29, is a pharmacist while Dr King has a private practice in Batu Pahat. Apart from serving the people and resolving local problems, he also noted that the people would gain from development in the area. Batu Pahat somehow has good development potential, and 22 of the companies there were listed in Bursa Malaysia, said Dr King beaming with pride. |
| GE13:Assemblyman sets aside personal duties to defend Cheka seat Posted: 01 May 2013 06:37 PM PDT LIPIS: Despite an earlier decision not to contest, Cheka assemblyman Datuk Fong Koong Fuee decided to enter the battlefield again out of his love for the party. The four-term assemblyman however, maintained that this elections would be his last before his eventual retirement from active politics. "My name was never in the list of three shortlisted candidates submitted to the party's central leadership. "I have proposed three younger leaders from my division to contest the seat and one of them has been chosen. "However, at the eleventh hour, I received a call, urging me to come out and contest to ensure a win for the party and Barisan Nasional," he said. Fong, 61, said he thought it over thoroughly before deciding to defend his seat for the larger interest of the party. He said for now, family and personal interests would have to take a backseat as much was at stake in this "mother of all battles." "I want to play a role in helping my party to retain the seat with a higher majority and show that MCA is not afraid to stand in Malay-majority areas. "If elected, I would complete my term before passing the baton to the next echelon of leaders," he said. In 2008, Fong defeated Ishak Sat of the PKR with a 1,280-vote majority. He will face Abas Awang of the PKR in straight fight. The Cheka state seat under the Lipis parliament has a 69.9% Malay voters and 24.1% Chinese voters. Fong said during his walkabouts and campaigning rounds, several of the divisional leaders were accompanying him to gain experience and exposure. On development projects, he said 50 acres of land had been set aside to build 500 units of Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia. "Those aged between 21 and 40, whether single or married with a salary of not more than RM5,000 a month are eligible to apply. "It is open to all races," he said, adding that each unit would cost about RM100,000. Fong said Cheka was a semi-urban seat and its voters made up of mostly smallholders, rubber tappers and villagers. He expressed his hope to further improve the welfare and basic amenities for the locals such as upgrading and widening of a 40km road linking Lipis town and Jerantut at a cost of RM96mil. "Crime rate here is under control and there is no major issues for the Opposition to capitalise on. "I would work hard to convince the Chinese community to continue supporting the Government," he said, adding that in terms of allocation, two Chinese schools had received RM500,000, three temples obtained RM200,000, in addition to grants for non-governmental organisations. Other projects in the pipeline include a new RM50mil specialist hospital, to be located next to the Lipis Hospital, and a new bridge in Kampung Mela to Kampung Gemenchor, costing RM14.9mil. Once the bridge is completed in 2014, it would benefit 1,000 villagers and shorten travelling time between both villages. Completed projects in the last five years include the RM97mil Lipis Hospital, a Tamil primary school, a new market and commercial outlets as well as bus and taxi stations. |
| GE13: Opposition parties not contesting in areas told to remove banners Posted: 01 May 2013 07:48 PM PDT JOHOR BARU: Pakatan Rakyat parties not contesting in a particular area will have to take down their banners and election paraphernalia as they did not pay the poster deposits to put up their materials. At least 19 parliaments constituencies in Johor, out of the 26 including Gelang Patah, has two Pakatan parties slugging it out, which paid their election deposits of RM3,000 for state seat and RM5,000 for a parliament seat. State election commission director Rokiah Hanum Ibrahim said that unlike Barisan Nasional, which was a formal coalition, the Pakatan group was a loose coalition and as such, those who did not pay their deposits would not be allowed to put up their election banners and posters. "Under the election laws, the Pakatan grouping is not a formal coalition and as such parties which are not contesting cannot be putting up their flags. "For instance in Gelang Patah only DAP and PAS are contesting in the parliament and the state seats. As such our enforcement team were told to remove PKR flags and banners," she said when contacted. Rokiah added that those interested in putting up their posters could do it after they paid the poster deposits. "I have informed all our enforcement teams statewide on this matter," she said, urging the party people to cooperate with the enforcement team in their respective areas. Rokiah said so far everything in Johor was proceeding well and she hoped that this continues until polling on May 5. Meanwhile, on accusations that DAP campaigners have found election commission officers in Pulai recording the serial number of postal ballots before posting them to voters, raising fears that those ballots can be traced easily, she said that she has investigated the matter and has reminded the returning officer not to do it again. She explained that the returning officer only did that to ensure there were no mistakes when sending out the postal ballots and have since shredded all the documents. "I am satisfied with his explanation and have since advised them not to jot down anything," she said. It was earlier reported in an online news portal that the discovery was made by candidate representative for DAP Pengkalan Rinting state seat candidate Cheo Yee How at the election commission's operations centre in Johor Baru to examine the postal ballots before they were posted. They also took photographs taken discreetly at the operation centre, showing the six-digit serial numbers of both the parliamentary and state ballots of each postal voter jotted down next to the voter's name on the postal voter list. |
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