Environmental activist Abe Lim is Muda’s candidate for Bandar Utama

 

Muda’s Abe Lim (left) will face an uphill battle against Pakatan Harapan’s Jamaliah Jamaluddin, who won by a huge majority in the Bandar Utama seat in 2018.

PETALING JAYA: Muda will be fielding UK-trained lawyer and climate change advocate Abe Lim in the urban Bandar Utama seat in Selangor, which was won by Pakatan Harapan (PH) with a thumping majority in the last state election.

In 2018, DAP’s Jamaliah Jamaluddin, who is expected to be retained by the party to defend her seat, polled 38,561 or 91% of the total ballots cast to win by a majority of 34,679 votes in a three-way contest. She defeated the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, Ch’ng Soo Chau from MCA, and an independent, both of whom lost their deposits.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) is expected to field a candidate from Gerakan in Bandar Utama.

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Lim is a trained lawyer from Oxford Brooke’s University. She has also completed an executive business programme at Stanford Business School in the United States and is said to have delivered two TedX talks.

According to a source, Lim agreed to stand in the state election on Aug 12 as she is confident that the voters from the urban constituency are likely to accept a climate change proponent as they would be aware of the problems caused by poor management of the environment.

“She is aware that it will be an uphill battle against Jamaliah who did so well the last time. However, she told the party’s leadership that local environmental issues will be hotly debated in an urban constituency like Bandar Utama,” he said

Her decision to challenge for the Bandar Utama seat comes after finding the lack of political will towards green solutions and slow initiative from previous seat holders, the source added.

Lim, who is the CEO of recycling firm Purpose Plastics, has strong credentials as an environmental activist including being a delegate at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) last year.

A DAP source said although the Selangor candidate list has not been finalised, Jamaliah is strongly tipped to defend the seat which was carved out of the Petaling Jaya Utara constituency in 2018.

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Muda has so far named 10 candidates for the elections due in six states on Aug 12. - FMT