Afif eager to contest in hometown Shah Alam

GE15 | Former PKR member Dr Afif Bahardin is eager to contest the parliamentary seat in his hometown of Shah Alam against his former party.

Excited about being back home, the Bersatu/Perikatan Nasional candidate is confident he has a fair chance, saying the people of Shah Alam know him.

“I am back home and I am asking Shah Alam voters to give me five years and then they can assess whether I deserve to continue.

“I am confident I have a fair chance because the people know me and I have been laying the groundwork here the past two years,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after successfully being nominated as a Shah Alam parliamentary candidate, Afif had this to say about PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

“I would be disturbed if he (Anwar) became prime minister,” said Afif when asked if he was disturbed by Anwar’s name-calling and labelling of those who left PKR.

“I still have to explain because people are asking about what happened in 2020.

“I never jumped,” he echoed his recent tweets adding that he still doesn’t know what he did wrong.

However, Afif claims he was sacked for making a stand and having an opinion.

“That’s what happened and how rotten my old party was,” recalled Afif, who said he along with more than 20 party members were issued show cause letters which he never responded to.

Traditionally a straight-fight constituency between PAS and Umno, the 15th general election (GE15) will see four candidates contend for the parliamentary seat at the Selangor state legislative centre.

Umno held the seat in 2004 but Khalid Samad won the last three terms, 2008 and 2013 under the PAS ticket and in 2018 as an Amanah candidate.

Shah Alam is a 76 percent Malay-majority seat with a large body of M20 income earners and Afif says locals can relate to him as he shares their issues.

“I’m working, my wife is working, I have kids and a baby who needs to go to a nursery and these are among the issues that will echo with Shah Alam people.

“Other issues are flooding, upgrade for schools, jobs, and housing for Malaysians migrating from outside the Klang Valley into Shah Alam,” he said.

Afif will be facing Azli Yusof (Amanah-Pakatan Harapan), Hizatul Isham Abdul Jalil (Umno-BN), and Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali (Pejuang-GTA).

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