KUALA LUMPUR - While Kajang residents are divided in their views on their assemblyman Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s performance to date, many polled believe a mass rally to protest her alleged incompetence as proposed by #Merah169 leader Datuk Jamal Md Yunos, is unnecessary.
Malay Mail Online took to the streets yesterday to find out if local voter sentiment towards the PKR president who stood in for her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Kajang by-election two years ago had changed in the past few months since she took on additional duties as Permatang Pauh MP and opposition leader in the Dewan Rakyat.
A saleswoman at the Plaza Metro Kajang who wished only to be known as Dayah said the semi-urban state seat’s two biggest issues, flash floods and traffic jams, have improved in the last few months since Dr Wan Azizah became its representative.
“She brings many changes. She takes care of the drains, cleanliness and also the traffic. I do not think we need a rally here, it disrupts the peace for the people and would not do anything good for us,” Dayah said.
The opinion was shared to a lesser degree by Parames who runs a food stall at Pasar Kajang.
Parames, food stall owner in Kajang, says she is quite happy with Dr Wan Azizah's role as the constituency's assemblyman and called the 'Red Shirts' rally plan as a waste of time.
The hawker said she was quite happy with the way Dr Wan Azizah managed the frequent flash flooding problems, by seeing to better drainage in the area.
“At least she’s doing something for the flood here. She has opened up the river, transferred shopkeepers from flood-stricken areas and give them spaces to open shops,” the 54-year-old said.
Though she was sparing with her praise on her assemblyman, Parames did not believe any mass protest in Kajang would alleviate the constituency’s woes further.
Asked to weigh in on Sungai Besar Umno division chief Datuk Jamal Md Yunos’s plan to hold a mass rally against Dr Wan Azizah, Parames simply said; “No need lah, how can solve? (sic)”
But not everyone was as upbeat about Dr Wan Azizah’s potential to improve on her service.
One such critic was mobile phone seller, Koh Hong Toong, who dubbed the PKR chief the “sleeping YB”.
“What can Wan Azizah do? She only do it for her husband’s sake, but I do wonder if she has any plans to prevent the rally from happening here?” he told Malay Mail Online in his feedback of the 62-year-old former ophthalmologist.
Mobile phone seller, Koh Hong Toong, was less optimistic about Dr Wan Azizah's role, saying there are no changes since she took over the constituency last year.
Then again, the 44-year-old said that all assemblymen were the same and could not do much to help the people in Kajang.
But like the others interviewed, Koh rejected the idea of having a mass rally in the constituency as a way to voice their disappointment of Dr Wan Azizah’s leadership, saying “it would not solve problems at all”.
Dr Wan Azizah is both the Kajang assemblyman as well as Permatang Pauh MP, replacing Anwar who was jailed for second sodomy charge in February.
Previously, Malay Mail Online reported the voters here as disgruntled and unhappy that Dr Wan Azizah would have her attention halved, after winning the Penang federal seat in the by-election earlier this year, which may cause her to ignore Kajang’s problems.
On Monday, News Straits Times reported Jamal as saying that he would plan another mass rally in Kajang to protest her alleged incompetency in the constituency after speaking to several voters here.
“I have on three occasions met with Kajang folk, comprising Malay, Chinese and Indians who claimed they had previously supported Wan Azizah but have since felt they were cheated and were disappointed with her.
“Most of the residents claimed she had yet to resolve their flash flood woes, which cost traders hundreds of thousands of ringgit in losses,” he told the English language daily.
Jamal played a prominent role in the #Merah169 rally in Kuala Lumpur on September 16, which was marred by racial insults and brief episodes of chaos. - Malay Mail
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.