Appointment doesn’t mean I will be next Bangi candidate, says DAP’s Syahredzan

 

Syahredzan Johan says his appointment was made by Ong Kian Ming’s office and not by the party.

PETALING JAYA: Syahredzan Johan has downplayed speculation that DAP will pick him to contest the Bangi parliamentary seat in the next general election (GE15).

Such rumours started swirling in June following the lawyer’s appointment as Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming’s representative for his constituency in the run-up to GE15.

Ong had said a month earlier that he would not offer himself as a candidate in GE15, adding that he was taking a break from politics to “regroup and recharge”.

Syahredzan, who is Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary, has been actively meeting voters in Bangi, which is the largest constituency in the country with almost 300,000 voters.

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However, he insists that his appointment as Ong’s representative does not mean he will be the DAP candidate for Bangi.

“I must emphasise here that this appointment does not mean that I will be a candidate in Bangi.

“It also doesn’t mean that I will be featured as a candidate in the next election.

“I was appointed by the Bangi MP to be his representative in the area. This is an appointment made by Ong’s office, not the party,” Syahredzan, who is also DAP’s social media bureau chairman, told FMT.

Syahredzan also shot down allegations that DAP only places Malay representatives in “safe seats” in a bid to show that it is a multi-racial party.

“I don’t think it’s fair to my friends in the party such as Tengku Zulpuri Shah (Raub MP), Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof (Dusun Tua assemblyman) and Sheikh Omar Ali (former Paloh assemblyman) to say that they were contesting ‘safe seats’,” said Syahredzan.

“They weren’t contesting easy seats at GE14, but they managed to win them,” added the DAP central executive committee member.

He also said the issues faced by voters in Bangi were the same as those in other densely populated urban areas. They included inflation, public transport, congestion, urbanisation and job opportunities for youths.

“Since my appointment in June, I have taken the time to meet as many people as possible to understand them.

“It takes time because of the diversity of the population here, but I have the opportunity to listen and learn from everything that was shared with me,” said Syahredzan, who estimated that the area is now home to a million people, including voters from other areas.

Ong, who was elected the Bangi MP in May 2018, was previously the MP for Serdang from 2013 to 2018. - FMT