KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — All eyes will be on the Bukit Antarabangsa state seat this election, but only to witness a fight between two brothers: Caretaker Selangor mentri besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and flamboyant celebrity Azwan Ali.
The constituency, located on the hilly terrain of Ampang, will be interesting to watch because it will also see two female contenders — one from Barisan Nasional (BN) and another from PAS.
Besides incumbent assemblyman Azmin, the seat with 46,537 voters in 19 polling districts will also be contested by former PKR youth activist Ahmad Kamarudin.
Bukit Antarabangsa voters are made up of 59.9 per cent Malay, 33.6 per cent ethnic Chinese and 5.5 per cent ethnic Indians, from a mix of income groups.
BN is fielding 43-year-old Salwa Yunus, a local from Kampung Melayu Ampang, to challenge the PKR deputy president.
The accountant and mother of two, who owns an accounting firm in Bandar Baru Ampang, said she is not afraid to face Azmin.
“I am not someone big. I don’t hold a high rank. I am even petite in size, but it does not matter who I am up against because I will be carrying BN’s name.
“Being a local, voters already know me so I hope they can accept who I am and I will work hard for them,” said the Ampang Umno committee member, who has been an active politician since 2001.
She admitted that the initial step to building a rapport with the voters of Bukit Antarabangsa was difficult, so she decided to go with the face-to-face approach.
“The system exists but it is still lacking in terms of services. The reason is because the information failed to reach the rakyat,” she told Malay Mail’s sister publication ProjekMMO in a recent interview.
“Some of the issues include the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is actually good but misunderstood by the people. Although we can use social media to engage with people, going to the ground is still a must.
“So far, the people have been accepting and they are excited to meet us,” she added.
This area, which includes the residences of higher-income folks on the outskirts of Hulu Kelang and Ampang town, has seen a festive flag war between PKR, BN and PAS.
Meanwhile, PAS candidate Sharifah Haslizah Syed Ariffin, 41, is banking on the manifesto of both the national and Selangor PAS leadership to win the hearts of voters.
“PAS fields its candidates on the basis of the party, not the individual, and we are contesting as a collective,” the alumni of the University of Malaya said.
As the information chief of Ampang PAS Muslimat women’s wing, she is confident that the party’s Islamic policy will be able to attract support from the Malays.
“The Chinese voters living in the urban areas need to be greeted with manners.
“For the B40 group, they are already familiar with PAS because we have been giving them our utmost focus for the longest time,” she said, referring to the bottom 40 per cent low-income group.
“We need to start shifting the focus to elite areas, but I believe they can make a sound judgment and are able to assess a leadership filled with integrity,” she said.
The Ampang Jaya councillor, who has been a PAS member since she was 18, admitted that the redelineation exercise has given the party an added advantage.
A few new voting districts from Lembah Jaya (originally from Ampang), Pandan Indah (originally from Pandan) and Hulu Kelang (originally from Gombak) have been added to the Bukit Antarabangsa seat.
Another interesting challenger, Azwan Ali, 52, became the talk of the town when he decided to run against his own brother as an independent candidate, using the elephant symbol.
Known as an outspoken and flamboyant celebrity sensation, the law graduate from University of Malaya has been lauded by some internet users for his candidacy.
Social media users even drew a comparison between Azwan and a few Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidates who failed to be nominated for various reasons, including not having a valid Election Commission (EC) pass.
Azwan is said to be contesting after gaining support from his fans and made five key promises in his manifesto.
Azmin and Azwan have fallen out, although the duo was reportedly once close.
Azwan, however, said he does not intend to use private issues as a weapon to bring down his brother.
Popularly known as Diva AA, he said he has a unique method of campaigning which includes going poster-free and winning hearts by cooking up “rendang a la Mak Tom”, named after his late mother.
“Using posters is an old-fashioned way of campaigning. It is not up to my standards. I have my own style,” he reportedly said to online portal Gempak.
In January, Azwan submitted a document to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) detailing graft allegations against Azmin, who was then mentri besar.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Kamarudin, who left PKR to contest under Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s ticket, decided to challenge his former leader out of dissatisfaction towards the party.
The former Kapar PKR Youth chief is allegedly unhappy with the state administration and the Opposition coalition’s decision to name Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate.
In 2013, Azmin defended Bukit Antarabangsa with a majority of 4,044 votes, which is less than his 2008 support of 4,734 votes.
