On What Basis? Party or Candidate?

I think most of the readers of this blog will find that I seldom post positive stuff about the government nor do their candidates in this coming general election. Many thought that I am a strong supporter of the opposition but to be honest, I try to be as neutral as possible despite the fact that I have to admit my current stand do fell more towards the opposition.

As an eligible voter for the 12th General Election (do correct me if I got it wrong cause I am not so sure whether it's 12th or 11th), I do concern about the Parliamentary Seat candidate in my resident area. With approximately 49% formed by the Malays 45% by the Chinese while Indians and others make up the remaining portion, Pandan is an area that MCA meet with PAS in the past. This round, the battle in P100 PANDAN is between Datuk Ong Tee Keat from BN and Syed Shahrir bin Syed Mohamud from PKR. Not forgetting the candidate for State Assembly which is also a 1 vs 1 scenario between Nosimah Hashim from BN (Replacing Datuk Mad Aris Mad Yusuf, the former YB) and Iskandar Abdul Samad from PAS.

Both ruling party and opposition banners, posters, buntings, and other promotional material can now be easily spotted in PANDAN area. It has come to my surprise to find out that the opposition actually send Syed Shahrir bin Syed Mohamud against Datuk Ong Tee Keat. It take me a while before knowing who Syed Shahrir bin Syed Mohamud is as I barely found PKR promotional material here (not to mention his photo). I am in great wonder of how on earth will a candidate that do not promote himself, or approach the electors win against Datuk Ong Tee Keat, one of the famous politician among the Chinese community.

I manage to dig out a person by the name of Syed Shahrir bin Syed Mohamud through a blogsite. I wonder if the person I found is the candidate that I am looking for. Forgive me if he is not as I couldn't locate any person by the name of Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud on the internet (not even in PKR official website). So for the time being, let's just assume that he is. A brief introduction of him through a press statement that he posted himself in his blog states that he is a former MTUC president who pledge to be the labor voice in parliament (instead of the people of PANDAN). The statement entitled Shahrir wants to continue legacy further illustrate that although the 56 years old Business Administration degree holder would be contesting under a PKR ticket, his priority was to fight for all categories of workers, including those serving as executives or holding middle management posts. As per written in the statement, Syed Shahir, who defeated the former MTUC president Zainal Rampak for the post, is not a novice to politics. He contested and lost a state seat in Pahang at the age of 22 under the former Parti Sosial Rakyat Malaysia (the cow head with red colored background if you could recall that the party contested during 1999 election by forming Barisan Alternatif with PAS, DAP and Parti keADILan) ticket. A member of Parti Rakyat Malaysia until the merger with Parti PKR in 2003, Syed Shahir again contested and lost the Kelana Jaya parliamentary seat in 2004, under the Keadilan ticket. Syed Shahir believes his party affiliation was not something unusual among union leaders or members.

My mom asks me who I will be voting for. "I will have no doubt if DAP is running for Pandan." that's the answer I gave her. She somehow agree to that by nodding her head. I must say that there is a huge gap between Datuk Ong and Mr Shahrir at the moment judging in term of the preparation work done by both site. I think most of the Chinese voters here will be in favor of voting for Datuk Ong considering his "straight forward" characteristic. In fact, in his own manifesto, a shortlist of what issues been raised by himself is included as part of the strategy to fish votes. Among the most famous incident will be the conflict between him and Datuk Seri Hishamuddin regarding funding of Chinese Primary School that was claimed to be "swallow" by certain people (namely the officers in MOE). It is indeed a very difficult decision to make when it comes to whether I should pick the right person of the right site (party). I am not a big fan of BN but I can't deny that Datuk Ong is one of the least political leader that I admire. If you're in Pandan, who will you be voting for? Would you make your choice base on party or candidate?