KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Datuk Seri Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin has slammed the Opposition for crying foul over the inclusion of Bukit Aman in the Lembah Pantai constituency after the redelineation exercise, claiming the latter are clueless about the area’s history.
During a walkabout at Residensi Kerinchi here, the Barisan Nasional (BN) Lembah Pantai candidate said the police headquarters had only been "returned” to the constituency, as it had previously been under Lembah Pantai in 1995.
"It is not something new. Due to a population change, the area was excluded for several terms to ensure the constituency could be served fairly,” he told reporters.
"No such thing as gerrymandering as they claimed. Maybe they don’t even know the history of the area.
"The reason why the Opposition seem unaware of this is because they are not from here, unlike me. I was born, went to school and was raised here,” he added.
The redelineation exercise on March 30 saw the removal of Brickfields from Lembah Pantai, and an additional 10,000 postal votes from the police in Bukit Aman.
His PKR rival Fahmi Fadzil previously called the change "unconstitutional”, citing the absence of geographical ties to link Bukit Aman with the constituency.
Fahmi said the exercise has changed the voter demographic in Lembah Pantai from 56 per cent Malay, 22 per cent Chinese and 19 per cent Indian to 62 per cent Malay, 19 per cent Chinese and 16 per cent Indian.
Raja Nong Chik said despite losing in GE13, he is confident that the commitment he has shown to the people over the past five years would give him mileage on May 9.
"I am not one to sulk. I have provided continuous service to the people here and I hope when they remember my commitment, it will translate into votes,” he said.
Raja Nong Chik and Fahmi will also be putting up a fight against PAS’ Fauzi Abu Bakar for the parliamentary seat.
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