AT 22, P. Prabakaran has already created quite a stir as the youngest contesting candidate in the 14th general election.

But little is known about the man running for the Batu parliamentary seat as an independent candidate.

Despite attempts by Malaysia Decides to get in touch with him, Prabakaran has remained elusive, replying to Whatsapp messages with a terse “I’ll get back to you” or “Will update you”.

The law student is also apparently virtually unknown to the people of Batu whom he hopes to represent in Parliament.

“Who is he?” said P. Ganesh, 37, when shown a picture of Prabakaran.

“I’d never seen him around Sentul.”

Ganesh from Bandar Baru Sentul said since Tian Chua was disqualified, he was at a loss as to who to vote for in the coming polls. Prabakaran’s candidacy was a revelation to him.

“He’s a bit young, isn’t he? I agree youth should take up politics as a career but isn’t contesting as a candidate (at such an age)  a bit too much of a statement?” he said.

Batu, according to the Election Commission statistics of April 10, consists of 76,328 voters of which 42.52% are Malay, 38.28% are Chinese and 17.46% Indians.

In Pekan Batu, 28-year-old Mohd Zaidi Abu Bakar also didn’t know who Prabakaran was, but was interested in finding out what he could offer the constituents.

“We need a fresh candidate, not one from PKR, PAS, or BN. Somebody that can take our local issues to the top and solve them.

“I don’t know who is he, never heard of him, let me see him first then I’ll decide whether he gets my vote,” he said.

In the 2013 general election, PKR’s Tian Chua won the Batu seat by 41,672 votes. However, he has been disqualified over a RM2,000 fine he received in a 2017 court case.

Prabakaran will go up against Dominic Lau Chai Hoe (BN), Azhar Yahya (PAS) and another independent candidate, V.M. Panjamothya. – April 30, 2018.