INTERVIEW | Despite failing to defend his seat of Titiwangsa in GE14, BN’s Johari Abdul Ghani has continued providing welfare services to the constituents and has been sure to make this known as he campaigns there again as the coalition’s candidate in GE15.
But his opponent in Pakatan Harapan, Khalid Abdul Samad, said this will not be enough for Johari to recapture the area because being an MP is more than being “the chairperson of a charitable organisation”.
“To be an MP is not the same as being the chairperson of a charitable organisation. It’s more important to know if an MP supports a prime minister with integrity, credibility, and has the ability to develop the country without corruption and misappropriation.
“Besides that, we also want MPs who are brave in speaking up against corruption, as lawmakers who will devise laws which can determine whether there can be room for corruption and abuse of power to take place.
“That is the duty of an MP, not just welfare issues,” he told Malaysiakini in a recent interview.
He also questioned Johari’s credibility on integrity matters, as he was finance minister II when the 1MDB scandal happened.
“If he (Johari) continued to serve in Titiwangsa despite losing in GE14, then we expect him to continue to serve (if he loses in GE15). So we give him credit for that,” he quipped when met at the Royal Selangor Golf Club.
Khalid, the incumbent three-term MP of Shah Alam, is contesting Titiwangsa for the first time but has before this been a familiar face for KL citizens as federal territories minister under the Pakatan Harapan government.
The Kampung Baru issue
As federal territories minister, Khalid had offered to pay Kampung Baru residents RM1,000 per square feet as compensation to take over their land for redevelopment.
Kampung Baru, the Malay village in the middle of skyscrapers, is located within the Titiwangsa constituency, with polling districts there voting for BN in the previous election.
On his campaign trail, Khalid said the offer still stands if Harapan wrests back federal power, but this was rubbished by Johari, who said the offer lacked details and was not yet approved by the Harapan cabinet at the time.
When he announced it in 2019, Khalid said the price was endorsed by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He also said Khalid was confusing voters by conflating the Kampung Baru land issue with the Sungai Baru flats issue, which refers to the acquisition of a block of flats on the fringe of Kampung Baru.
Johari said the land on which the flats sit has been acquired by the developer using the Land Acquisition Act during Khalid’s tenure as minister, leaving some 19 percent of residents who did not agree to the acquisition in a quandary.
Khalid had reportedly invited Johari to a debate on the Kampung Baru issue and other related matters yesterday but the latter turned it down, saying Khalid is beneath him and that he would rather debate Harapan chairperson Anwar Ibrahim instead.
Commenting on this, the Amanah leader said this shows how arrogant Johari is.
“Don’t be so arrogant, voters don’t like that,” he said.
The debate at the iconic Suleiman Club in Kampung Baru went ahead as scheduled last night, but with Khalid speaking to many empty chairs in the audience.
Kampung Baru is a hotly contested area in this election, with BN winning in two out of three polling districts there in 2018.
‘They don’t want Zahid as PM’
Meanwhile, Khalid, too, is playing the Anwar card.
He said the two-week campaign in Titiwangsa was an opportunity for him to engage the constituents on the role of an MP and how their vote could make a difference and which prime minister candidate is better.
“If the voters don’t know, then I will tell them. This is my role. I tell them that a vote for Johari Ghani is a vote for (BN chairperson) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as prime minister,” he said.
“Of course, they don’t want Zahid as PM. Most Titiwangsa voters don’t want that.
“This is why I feel, God willing, that my chances of winning in Titiwangsa are improving.
“The more people understand this, the harder it is for them to vote for any other candidate besides Harapan, which intends to raise Anwar (as PM),” he said.
Harapan has campaigned on the message that a vote for BN is a vote for Zahid as prime minister, even though BN has stressed that its PM candidate is caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The Titiwangsa seat is a four-way fight between Khalid, Johari, Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Rosni Adam, and Gerakan Tanah Air's Khairuddin Abu Hassan.
In 2018, it was won by Bersatu’s Rina Harun, who later defected from Harapan to PN.
In GE14, Rina won 39 percent of the vote under the Harapan ticket while Johari won 32 percent in the three-way tussle.
PAS candidate Mohamad Noor Mohamad came in last. - Mkini
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