TIRED of always being the best man and never the groom, Ahmade Mohd Din has decided to play a bigger role in politics in the Johor elections.

This, despite the fact that he has to go up against two-term assemblyman Andrew Chen, whom he helped to campaign for Stulang in the last elections.

Back in 2018, Ahmade was among the handful of Malays who joined Bersatu motivated by outrage over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal.

Also fed-up of being given the runaround over land title issues by successive Barisan Nasional state governments who were looking to reclaim the last few Malay villages in Johor Baru to build more luxury condominiums, Ahmade and his best friend Azif Ishak volunteered to help the Pakatan Harapan campaign.

But despite beating BN to take Johor, Ahmade said very few changes took place under PH.

“The best thing that happened was Pakatan renewing the 99-year leases for the Malay villages here. At the time, villages such as Kampung Dato Sulaiman Menteri only had around 30 years left on the lease,” said Ahmade.

Other problems, such as adequate compensation for houses for relocated squatters or reclamation of burial land in Kampung Batu Arang, could not be resolved, he added.

“The 22 months PH had was inadequate.”

That itself was not what irked Ahmade who played a vital role in helping Chen’s campaign with Malay voters in Stulang.

“Despite helping PH win, I felt that my views on how to resolve certain problems were ignored. And I realise now that for real changes to happen, I must have my own power,” said the father of nine.

Although he did not expect it, Ahmade said Bersatu’s break with PH had opened doors for him.

“After Bersatu left, we also quit the party and have now joined Pejuang. And since Pejuang is not part of PH, I can now contest in Stulang,” said Ahmade, who admitted that the party has not included Stulang as one of the 42 seats it plans to contest next month.

But ever optimistic, Ahmade hopes that the party will reconsider his offer to contest in Stulang.

“They asked if I would contest in Larkin, Machap or Puteri Wangsa but I said no. I am from here and have lived most of my life here, so I rather win or lose here,” said the 55-year-old.

Striking out with Pejuang

And there is no better time for him to find his place in the 56-seat state assembly than now, said Ahmade.

“Stulang, which is a Chinese-majority seat, has always been contested by Chinese candidates and the local voters here are keen to have a Malay assemblyman for a change.

“If DAP and MCA, and maybe Gerakan field candidates here, the vote will be split and I could sneak in,” he added with a chuckle.

The Stulang state seat was first contested in 1995 and was won by MCA for four straight terms until the rise of the opposition in 2013.

That year, Sarawak’s Chen won Stulang with by 3,296 votes. Coupled with Bersatu in the 2018 elections, Chen defended Stulang where he increased his margin to 12,470 votes.

In the last election, the Stulang seat had 45,551 voters who were 55% Chinese, 40% Malay and 5% Indian.

Unlike others, Ahmade is counting on the unpredictability of the 16,375 new young voters and previously unregistered voters in the constituency.

“Whether 18 or not, these are all new voters and it means that there’s no way of knowing how they will vote,” said the Pejuang coordinator for the Johor Baru constituency.

“The additional voters mean that my chances here are as good as anyone else’s. Definitely better than Gerakan’s, if they contest here.”

And for the first time in his life, Ahmade wants to be the groom instead of the best man.

“You can’t be party machinery your whole life.” – February 17, 2022.