BENTONG, Nov 5 ― One word was at the top of the heap of promises from parliamentary seat candidates here at the conclusion of the 15th general election nomination day: "development".
Young Syefura Othman, former Ketari assemblyman and Pakatan Harapan's candidate for the seat said that if she was voted in come November 19, she would take steps to make Bentong a more modern town in the next five years.
"In Bentong, there isn't even a mall for the youth to hang out in, suitable parks or sports centres," she said.
She added that growing the tourism sector and introducing more modern methods of farming to farmers here -- who are famous for their Musang King durians and ginger plantations - were among her top priorities.
She also threw shade at BN's returning candidate, Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai, saying that he had left Bentong underdeveloped even though he held the seat for years and even had the portfolios of health minister and transport minister.
Liow, who is a former MCA president, was the MP here from 1999 to 2018.
Meanwhile, when speaking to the press, Liow said that the people of Bentong now had been able to see the difference between his administration and that of his successor in 2018, Wong Tak.
He pointed out that the Pakatan Harapan administration had wanted to remove the planned Bentong stop on the East Coast Rail Link project.
"Even though I wasn't an MP I had to push for it (keeping the Bentong stop)," he said, adding that he would look at increased access to the Pahang town via projects such as the Central Spine Road.
Commenting on the large turnout of BN supporters at the nomination event, Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Datuk Roslan Hassan said that this was not an accurate indicator of the voter sentiment in Bentong.
Roslan, who said he was born in the nearby Lurah Bilut Felda settlement, said that it was inconvenient for many of the Bentong PN supporters to come to the nomination event, as most lived in the outskirts of the town ― which is where he wants to focus his development efforts if he wins.
Aside from representatives from the three coalitions, there were also two independent candidates announced.
One was Wong, who showed up to contest even after being dropped from PH's line-up after DAP took the view that he had lost popularity.
Wong said that despite what others may say the people of Bentong knew what he had done for the constituency and thus he would have their support.
He announced that his logo for the contest would be a hoe - a symbol of paving new paths and planting seeds.
The other indipendent was Khalil Abdul Hamid, who said he was part of a group named Jihad Pembela Ummah.
The Bentong seat was in BN's control -― via its component, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) ― from the seat's establishment in 1959, to 2018.
Wong wrested the seat in GE14, representing PH, and on the back of public support of his opposition to Lynas Rare Earth Ltd's processing plant in Kuantan.
The Pahang town is situated about 40km away from Kuala Lumpur, and has a racial composition of 61.9 per cent Bumiputera, 28.8 per cent Chinese, 8.4 per cent Indians, and 0.9 per cent of other minorities.
