On birthday, business as usual for Pakatan’s Semenyih hopeful Muhammad Aiman

SEMENYIH, Feb 22 ― The 30th birthday celebration of Muhammad Aiman Zainali, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate for the Semenyih state by-election, today was slightly different compared to previous years.

The birthday boy began his special day by meeting the Chinese community at the Kampung Baru Semenyih morning market as he continued his campaigning ahead of the March 2 polling day.

Many of them were happy to meet the young candidate, and they even serenaded him with a birthday song in Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese after noticing his birth date in the campaign brochure.

The young engineer told reporters that his second visit here this week was specifically to meet the Chinese community, and he was confident they would support PH.

He said the Chinese community, representing about 17 per cent of the voters in Semenyih, hoped that he would focus on local issues. 

“Most of the issues raised were on infrastructure, like roads, the condition of the market building, and (if PH wins the by-election), we will ask the relevant parties to come and see for themselves the people’s problems and solve them immediately,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kampung Baru Village Development and Security Committee member Stanley Minjoot, 72, said he hoped that work to widen the bridge near their housing area could be accelerated.

“Work to expand the bridge began at the end of last year and has caused traffic congestion in this village. Many lorries go through our village,” he said.

Another villager, who only wanted to be known as Cikgu Hiew, 70, said he hoped that whoever was elected would help solve the problems of damaged roads, insufficient street lights and clogged drains which have long plagued the residents of Semenyih.

Asked who he would vote for, Cikgu Hiew said: “The candidate must be trustworthy, able to work and should listen to the voters’ wishes. These are the traits we want for our elected representative.”

In the by-election, Muhammad Aiman is up against Zakaria Hanafi (Barisan Nasional); Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul (Parti Sosialis Malaysia) and Independent candidate Kuan Chee Heng.

The Semenyih by-election is being held following the death of the PH assemblyman, Bakhtiar Mohd Nor, 57, of Bersatu on Jan 11. ― Bernama