BN’s Pandak to put focus on housing, roads and clinics

 Pandak Ahmad says 'people want to live in peace and prosperity, and want jobs and housing' while PN’s Anna Pravina says she will focus on the cost of living to woo voters.

BN’s Pandak Ahmad, who seeks re-election in Kota Iskandar, faces a challenge from Anna Pravina of PN, and two others.

ISKANDAR PUTERI:

Pandak Ahmad, the Barisan Nasional candidate in Kota Iskandar, has pledged to accelerate affordable housing projects, improve road infrastructure, and push for the construction of a health clinic if he is re-elected to the Kota Iskandar seat at the July 11 Johor polls.

Housing, jobs and the rising cost of living have emerged as the defining issues in the battle for Kota Iskandar, home to Forest City and part of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone as candidates offer competing visions for one of Johor’s fastest-growing areas.

Pandak said his priorities reflected the concerns consistently raised by residents throughout his campaign. He also said voters wanted political stability. He contends that Johor’s multicultural society had benefited from an administration that serves all communities under the “Bangsa Johor” concept.

“People want to live in peace and prosperity. They want jobs and housing. When they face problems, it is our responsibility as elected representatives to become the bridge between the people and the government,” he said.

Pandak said Johor’s ambition of becoming a developed state by 2030 would generate more jobs and business opportunities for residents.

He pointed to Forest City as an example, saying the township had shed its reputation as a “ghost city” following the launch of the JS-SEZ and the Forest City Special Financial Zone.

Umno, BN leaders can’t be arrogant

Reflecting on BN’s defeat in the 2018 general election, Pandak acknowledged that the coalition had made mistakes by failing to properly explain issues such as the 1MDB scandal to the public.

“The lesson we learned is that Umno and BN leaders must not be arrogant. We have to go to the ground, engage with the people and listen to them closely.”

He said the experience had prompted BN to place greater emphasis on grassroots engagement, with all 56 candidates campaigning directly among voters to rebuild public confidence.

The Kota Iskandar seat is a four-cornered fight involving BN’s Pandak, Pakatan Harapan’s Dzulkefly Ahmad, Perikatan Nasional’s Anna Pravina and Bersama’s Sahrudin Omar.

Pandak won the seat in 2022 with 23,133 votes for a 4,360-vote majority over Dzulkefly, who held the seat from 2018 to 2022.

Cost of living tops PN’s agenda

Anna said the cost of living remained the dominant concern among voters she had met. Her priority, if elected, would be to ease the people’s financial burden while ensuring that they benefited from the state’s economic growth.

Anna said many young Johoreans continued to leave for Singapore because they believed better salaries and career prospects were available across the Causeway.

“We need to help ease the cost of living and improve opportunities for local people,” she said. “They want good jobs, better salaries and a secure future. I want to create enough opportunities so they can build their future in Johor.” - FMT