MELAKA, Nov 13 — Residents of two housing areas and a village here, who claimed that they have been ‘ignored’ as a result of the redelineation of electoral boundaries in 2018, are appealing to the governemnt to resolve various issues faced by them.
According to them, the redelineation exercise has resulted in Taman Indah, Taman Terendak Heights and the Tanah Merah settlement area to be part of the Lendu state constituency, under the Alor Gajah district, but the residents remain as voters in the Sungai Udang state constituency.
“We were also asked to change our polling stations,” retired armed forces personnel Rahmat Jalil, 50, from Taman Terendak Heights told Bernama, here.
Rahmat said this has also caused confusion as well as made it difficult for the residents in the three areas to get help from their elected representatives, State Legislative Assembly Development and Coordination Committee Offices (Japerun) and the local authorities.
Raja Azhar Raja Majid, 55, from Taman Indah, said residents who wanted to seek treatment or undergo medical check-ups were also required to go to the Masjid Tanah Health Clinic, in Alor Gajah which is located about 13 km from their housing area.
“The same goes for those who want to lodge a police report. They need to go to the Masjid Tanah police station...It is such a burden for us, especially for residents who do not have a vehicle and senior citizens to travel far to get the facility.
“As Sungai Udang voters, we should be able to enjoy the same facilities provided for other residents in the state constituency, but what happened was the opposite,” he said.
Raja Azhar, who has lived in Taman Indah for more than 14 years, said although the issue has been raised by the residents for several times, there was still no solution to it.
Meanwhile, Rahmat wanted the government to build a new school in the Sungai Udang state constituency which currently only has two schools, namely Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sungai Udang and Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Udang, to accommodate the rising number of students in the area.
He said if the student admission quota in the two schools was full, the residents would have to send their children to other schools located outside the Sungai Udang state constituency.
In another development, Taman Desa Taming Sari resident Isa Hashim, 61, said he hoped that whoever wins the Sungai Udang seat in the Melaka state election on Nov 20 would focus on improving infrastructure and facilities in the state constituency.
“Upgrading works need to be carried out on several roads, especially in front of the Terendak Camp heading towards Tangga Batu to help reduce traffic congestion in the area.
“The 30-year-old Sungai Udang Health Clinic also needs to be upgraded to reduce congestion and provide better services to the residents,” he said.
Situated within the Tangga Batu parliamentary constituency, Sungai Udang has a total of 22,866 registered voters with 9,577 of them being military and police personnel who will cast their votes early.
The contest for the Sungai Udang seat will see a four-cornered fight between Datuk Seri Mohamad Ali Mohamad of Barisan Nasional (BN), Dr Mohd Aleef Yusof (Perikatan Nasional), Hasmorni Tamby (Pakatan Harapan) and Major General (R) Datuk Mohd Zahar Hasim (Independent).
During the 14th General Election, the Sungai Udang state seat was won by Datuk Seri Idris Haron from BN with a majority of 2,229 votes, defeating Mohd Lokman Abdul Gani (PKR).
The Election Commission has set Nov 20 as polling day for the Melaka state election, with early voting on Nov 16.
The election was called following the dissolution of the state assembly on Oct 4 after four state assemblymen withdrew support for the Chief Minister. — Bernama
