KUANTAN, May 2 — Unlike the candidate fielded by the Barisan Nasional (BN) for the Kuantan Parliamentary constituency in the past two general elections, the person selected by the coalition this time is rather different.
A friendly and approachable person, Datuk Andrew Wong Kean Hwee does not have a political background, but he is keen on voluntary activities to help society through non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Leading several charitable and welfare bodies in the field of environmental preservation, Andrew, 57, is no stranger to the people in the district which forms the entry point to the East Coast for those coming from Kuala Lumpur and the southern parts of the peninsula.
He was being fielded to destroy the PKR stronghold there for the past two elections as he was seen to have the potentials to spring a surprise based on his activities to be close with the community all this while.
Andrew started to be involved in politics after being appointed as special officer to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who is also the MCA president two years ago, and since then he became more aggressive in his activities to be closer to the community as instructed.
He realised that based on the population of more than half-a-million in Kuantan and 62,831 registered voters for the 14th General Election (GE14), the challenge to become an elected representative there was not easy especially to cover every inch of the district with a total area of 2,960 square kilometres or 1,143 square miles to ‘sell’ the BN package.
“Although it is a heavy task, I am determined to carry out the responsibility to change the town into a new Kuantan that is progressive and competitive,” he said after being announced as a candidate recently.
A graduate of Windsor University, Canada, Andrew said despite having rendered his service to the constituency he was contesting in for the past 10 years, he would open up a service centre for the community in Kuantan town to know and understand them better in order to serve the community.
Besides Andrew, other contenders for the Kuantan parliamentary seat are the PAS candidate, Sulaiman Mat Derus and Fuziah Salleh from PKR who will be defending her seat that she won in GE13 with a majority of 4,515 votes. — Bernama
