Amanah candidate Ahmad Termizi Ramli has vowed to fight in the Kuala Kangsar by-election with the warrior spirit of his ancestor, Malay nationalist Pandak Lam, or Datuk Maharaja Lela as he is popularly known.

“Coincidentally, Amanah office is located at Daeng Salili, named after my ancestor,” he said.

“I am the sixth-generation descendent of Datuk Maharaja Lela (Pandak Lam), hopefully the warrior blood that flows in my veins will be benefited to save the nation,” he said.

Pandak Lam was a leader that led the struggle against the British in Perak and was mostly known for assassinating the then resident, or adviser to the Malay sultan, JWW Birch.

Datuk Maharaja Lela originally hailed from Indonesia and was a direct descendant of Bugis warrior Daeng Salili.

Termizi said this during after opening the DAP operations centre for the be-election, in Kuala Kangsar.

A total of 12 Pakatan Harapan representatives are in Perak to campaign for him.

Also present were Perak DAP chief and Beruas parliamentarian Ngeh Koo Ham, Batu Gajah parliamentarian V Sivakumar, Perak DAP secretary Wong Kah Woh, PKR’s Lumut MP Mohd Imran Abdul Hamid and Amanah’s Changkat Jering state assemblyperson Muhammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

Ahmad Termizi urged Kuala Kangsar voters, especially the local Chinese community, to save the nation with him.

“The Chinese is informed enough, if compared to the Malays and Indians. There is no reason why (Harapan) will not get their votes,” he said.

“No reason, the only thing is we need to go to every house to make sure all the Chinese votes are with us to save the country,” he stressed.

“We have no choice, we have to win big,” he added.

‘No ‘kangkong’ professor’

Beside highlighting himself as a local candidate, the retired nuclear physicist jokingly claimed that he was no ‘kangkong’ (bad) professor.

“I was a professor in the field of nuclear physic, not ‘kangkong’ one, but genuine one with international standard.

“I make sure all my students that passed in my class will fit in anywhere in the world,” he said, to the laughter of 50 Harapan members and supporters.

Being fielded as candidate in Kuala Kangsar, he said, is a way to pay back to the people who contributed to his achievement.

Meanwhile, Ngeh pointed out the by-election is a referendum on many issues arose post the 2013 general election.

He claimed that every person in the country has to foot an average of RM700 annually so the government would collect RM39 billion annually.

“A family of five would have to pay RM3,500 annually,” he said.

“The government had decided to close 1MDB and shifted the debt to Finance Ministry.

“We (may) have to pay the RM50 billion debt and the RM7 million daily interest incurred,” he said.

“We estimate the total loss may accumulate to RM20 billion if 1MDB were to be sold,” he said.

“This means every family have to pay RM3,500 due to this particular scandal alone,” he added.

Imran also brushed off allegation by certain quarters that supporting Amanah is equivalent to supporting DAP as highlighted in the daily newspapers.

“I want to say that whoever supports PAS, then they are supporting BN,” he stressed.

He suggested that the candidate watch how the US presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigns.

“I advise the candidate, if possible watch how Donald Trump debates. He accused the Obama administration of corruption and not being sensitive to the people,” he said.

“The same thing had happened here, the government wasn’t sensitive to the extent it implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST),” he noted.