Harapan Shah Alam candidate denies being on DBKL board to win contracts

Pakatan Harapan's Shah Alam candidate Azli Yusof has refuted an accusation that he sat on the Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) advisory board so he could influence decisions made by the tender board for personal interests.

This accusation was made by Umno supreme council member Mohd Razlan Rafii during a ceramah while campaigning for BN's Shah Alam candidate Hizatul Isham Abdul Jalil last night.

“We only served as advisory board members and were not involved nor interfered with operations,” said Azli (above) when contacted by Malaysiakini.

Azli, at the time, was the political secretary to the then-federal territories minister Khalid Samad and a Shah Alam City councillor.

“I don’t have proxies. And no Harapan Shah Alam City councillor or any other municipal councillor in Selangor sits on any tender board.

“Harapan advisory board members are appointed based on our merit, qualification and experiences and we are comprised of qualified political activists, professionals and members from the NGO circle,” said Azli, who holds a master’s in business administration.

The first-time candidate said his role in DBKL ceased when the Harapan government fell in February 2020.

Yesterday, Razlan told a crowd of mostly BN members that Azli sat on the advisory board to access the DBKL tender board.

“He is not supposed to be involved in the DBKL administration. Why does he want to be on the advisory board? Only one reason.

“Because he wants to qualify himself to sit on the tender board. You can ask him. If it’s not true, you can sue me,” stressed Razlan.

Others who stumped for BN in Shah Alam last night include Ibrahim Shah Abu Shah, a former UiTM vice-chancellor, and Umno supreme council member Arman Azha Abu Hanifah.

The BN candidate also received support from controversial Umno politician Lokman Adam, who campaigned there last Friday.

Incumbent's protege vs Najib's special officer

Shah Alam is a large urban constituency with over 100,000 voters. In 2018, there were 76 percent Malay voters, 11 percent Chinese, 13 percent Indian and one percent other ethnicities.

This time, both the Harapan and BN contenders are first-time candidates.

Azli, 55, has the advantage of being incumbent MP Khalid's protege.

Shah Alam has voted against BN for three terms, supporting Khalid when he was in PAS in 2008 and 2014, and again in 2018 as leader of PAS splinter party Amanah.

In 2018, Khalid garnered 52 percent of the vote, while BN and PAS candidates received 21 percent and 14 percent respectively.

But Hizatul Isham, the Harvard-educated BN candidate who was the special officer to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak from 2016 to 2018, believes he has a chance.

The 46-year-old earlier told reporters that this is because voters on the campaign trail told him Khalid had been an absent MP, rarely seen on the ground.

The duo will also face Perikatan Nasional's Dr Afif Bahardin, who is the Seberang Jaya assemblyperson in Penang, and Gerakan Tanah Air's Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, 45.

Afif, 37, was the former PKR deputy youth chief, who left the party for Bersatu, while Muhammad Rafique is a relatively fresh face in politics.

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