Balakong by-election: Pakatan Harapan candidate wants to fix infrastructure

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19): By-election fever is in the air again. At least for the Selangor township of Balakong anyway. And the wooing of voters has begun.   

Pakatan Harapan candidate Wong Siew Ki said today she would tackle the area’s infrastructure problems if elected, reported the Malay Mail today.

“Proper infrastructure upgrades and planning will increase overall happiness of the local people with the issue being raised frequently.

“Every hand I shook today expressed their hope with PH and therefore we must do our best... not only during the 21-day campaigning period, but for the next five years,” the English daily reported her saying while distributing the national flag at the Sungai Chua wet market in Balakong during her walkabout today.

Meanwhile, Kg Baru Kwan Tung village security and development committee chairman Lim Thian Ser said he welcomed Wong’s plans to look upgrade infrastructure for the area.

Lim told the Malay Mail he hoped the elected representative could solve the local problems, especially in Sungai Chua.

“Some of the major problems that needs to be looked into are the sewage problem where hawkers in the area dispose their waste into the drainage system,” he said.

Wong also said that the late Balakong assemblyman Eddie Ng already laid out the groundwork and she plans continue them.

The Balakong state seat became vacant after the death of Ng on July 20 owing to a traffic accident on the Cheras–Kajang Expressway.

This is the second by-election for the Selangor State Assembly since the 2018 general election, after the Sungai Kandis by-election in August 2018.

The Balakong by-election will be held on Sept 8.

In a separate report yesterday, Wong said she does not expect the majority vote for the Balakong by-election to match that obtained in the general election on May 9.

In a Free Malaysia Today report, she said it will depend on the voter turnout, adding that "if the recent Sungai Kandis by-election was anything to go by, the majority would likely be smaller".

“Like Sungai Kandis – the voter turnout was very low,” she said.