Come election time, it is normal for trade unions and civil society groups to submit their election demands to the electoral candidates in the respective areas. Now, an interesting new trend has emerged.

The brainchild of a coalition of marginalised communities from various sectors, election candidates will now be asked to sign a written pledge or ' akujanji ' with voters in the area where they are canvassing for support.

If elected, the candidate pledges to raise local issues at the state or federal level, and provide a half-yearly progress report to the respective constituents.

On Sunday night, two social activists took up the challenge and sealed the 'akujanji' with Kampung Kayu Ara residents at a ceramah in Damansara, making them the first to do so before polling day on March 21.

They are Parti Sosialis Malaysia pro tem chairperson, Dr Nasir Hashim, who is contesting the Subang parliamentary seat and central committee member, V Selvam, for the Bukit Lanjan state constituency.

Copies of the signed forms were then given to the residents representatives, Omar Mahat and A Krishnan, for both seats.

Nasir will be up against incumbent BN/MIC candidate KS Nijhar while Selvam is facing BN/Gerakan's Yong Dai Ying. This state seat was previously won by Gerakan's Lum Weng Keong. Both Nasir and Selvam are contesting under the Keadilan ticket as their party is yet-to-be registered by the Registrar of Societies.

People power

Despite the poor turnout of about 50 people who gathered at the playground within the flats compound, Nasir, 57, spoke about the ongoing struggle despite the tough battle ahead.

"(As) the oppressed have nowhere to go, they usually take it out on others and their loved ones suffer the most," he said.

"One thing we learnt from the countless clashes with the authorities is the urgent need to change oppressive laws."

He said since the police keep telling them to "change the laws if you don't like them", that was exactly what they planned to do.

"And in order to do that, we must get into parliament," he added. "We have to return power to the people."

Nasir also issued a challenge to all candidates, especially from the Barisan Nasional, to sign the 'akujanji' and keep their pledges.

Tense moment

Selvam, 43, kicked off his speech by relating how several Barisan Nasional supporters had earlier tried to prevent party workers from entering the compound to set up the ceramah corner.

"The BN had scheduled a ceramah right here tonight but we managed to obtain the police permit first. So, they tried to stop us from entering the area instead.

"We immediately contacted a Special Branch officer and the situation was defused on time. The crowd that had gathered for the BN ceramah was then told to disperse," he said.

A party worker, D Sevan, said the lorry which doubled as the ceramah stage was blocked by a motorcycle placed at the entrance of the flats by what he believed to be an MIC member.

"Despite polite pleas for him to move his two-wheeler, he remained adamant and started threatening us instead.

"While my colleague continued talking to him, I slowly pushed the motorcycle aside to allow enough space for the lorry to enter."

'Why vote us'

A heading on PSM's manifesto pamphlet read: "Tempat lain saya tak tahu... tapi di kawasan Subang, BN gagal selesaikan masalah asas; cakap tak serupa bikin; wakil rakyat aktif masa pancing undi sahaja."

("I don't know about other areas...but in Subang, the BN has failed to resolve basic problems; does not practice what it preaches; elected representatives are active only when fishing for votes.")

Elaborating further, Selvam outlined seven reasons why the BN does not deserve Subang residents' votes.

He said the public transport in Subang was among the worst in Selangor, with long waits or worse, no buses at all.

He also listed traffic jams and the problems of uncollected garbage, no parking space and broken elevators in low-cost flats.

"Add to the list flash floods, a lack of health facilities in the outskirts of Subang and illegal factories.

"All these are due to bad town planning, inadequate or totally no maintenance and lax enforcement," he said.

In appealing to the voters to deny support for the BN, the pamphlet's other catchy slogan read: "Undi pembangkang. Biarkan kita ajar BN supaya jangan main dengan undi kami."

("Vote the opposition. Let's teach the BN a lesson not to toy around with our votes.")

Legal basis

When asked last week if he would consider signing the pledge, incumbent Shah Alam MP, Mohd Zin Mohamad (now contesting in Sepang), posed a question of his own.

"Would you sign it? Does it have any legal basis? Why would I want to sign something that cannot hold up in court?"

He argued that even without signing any 'akujanji', every elected representative was already required to submit monthly progress reports on the problems raised by the constituents.

"Our 'akujanji' is to our party and the government," he said. "If you have a problem, come to me and I will try to resolve it myself. Otherwise, I will help to get it resolved at a higher level."

Other candidates have yet to state their stand on this.