PARTI Sosialis Malaysia has picked Youth member Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul to be its candidate for the Semenyih state seat by-election on March 2.

PSM chairman Nasir Hashim made the announcement at a press conference in the constituency tonight.

The 25-year-old traditional masseur will be up against Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional candidates in the by-election.

Bersatu, representing PH, and Umno, representing BN, will name their candidates tomorrow.

Local boy Nik Aziz was named after PAS’ late spiritual leader, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, and sees the leader as his idol. 

Nomination is on Saturday.

Also present at the press conference today were PSM central committee member and former candidate S. Arutchelvan, along with party Youth chief Khalid Ismath.

Nik Aziz said PSM wanted to provide a check and balance in the Selangor state assembly, which is dominated by PH.

“We want to provide check and balance in Selangor, where 51 out of the 56 seats in the state assembly are held by PH,” he said at PSM’s Semenyih branch office.

“We are afraid that if they have this much power without any check and balance, they will become corrupt,” he said.

Nik Aziz also touched on the water issue in Selangor as one of the prime examples of the PH government exerting its power and going back on its promises.

“Last November, they said that water is not free anymore. This is the kind of issue we want to fight,” he said.

Arutchelvan, a PSM candidate for this seat in the past three general elections, will be be Nik Aziz’s campaign manager in the by-election.

“He is a local entrepreneur who has his own massage business here. He understands the issues here,” said Arutchelvan.

Arutchelvan said Nik Aziz has been with PSM since 2015, serving in many capacities in the central and Semenyih level.

“He has helped me with many issues concerning the poor in this area,” said Arutchelvan.

Arutchelvan also said the 25-year-old is the perfect candidate as 50% of voters here are below 40 years old.

“For us, he is the best candidate, a young and dynamic candidate,” he said.

Arutchelvan also denied that Nik Aziz was chosen for his ethnicity in the Malay majority area.

“His race was never a consideration. We saw that he served in this area and knows the issues here, that’s why he was chosen,” he said.

Nik Aziz, who is yet to complete his diploma in Islamic Studies since 2015, was asked about his qualifications and whether it had a negative impact.

He said although he did not complete his diploma, he was being honest about it and there should be no issue.

“There is a negative impact when you lie about your qualifications. In the past we have had candidates who are lorry drivers and Orang Asli and such.

“We’re not an exclusive party or elite party. We are for everyone and we are not ashamed if we don’t have high education,” he said.

He said the issue was about lying about credentials rather than having them in the first place.

In the last general election, Semenyih saw a four-cornered contest between Bersatu, Umno, PAS and PSM.

PSM came last with 1,293 votes. The late incumbent, Bakhtiar Mohd Nor, had won the seat with a majority of 8,964 votes for Bersatu. – February 13, 2019.