SELANGOR Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari has no intention of turning his clash with Mohamed Azmin Ali for the Gombak seat into a personal fight. 

The PKR vice-president said the tussle for the seat was like any other contest between candidates in a general election. 

“The only thing is we (with Azmin) are close personally, but there are also others in the contest. 

“This is not a personal fight (between us). I don’t want to make this a personal matter,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

He said the only reason Gombak is the focus is because it is Azmin versus Amirudin – a fight between a former and current menteri besar, a clash between mentor and protégé.

Amirudin said the direction of the country, as well as the stand and principles of Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) are the main issues.

“When he (Azmin) was menteri besar, I supported and campaigned for him. 

“But, then he decided to leave (in the Sheraton Move), so I have no other choice but to fight (contest in Gombak) as a matter of principle and policies.” 

Gombak will see a five-cornered fight in the November 19 general election. 

Incumbent MP Azmin from PN will take on four candidates as he seeks a fourth term as Gombak MP. 

Apart from PH’s Amirudin, Azmin will face Dr Aziz Jamaludin Mhd Tahir (Pejuang), Zulkifli Ahmad (Independent) and Megat Zulkarnain Omardin (Barisan Nasional). 

In the 2018 general election, Azmin garnered 75,113 votes on a PKR ticket against Abdul Rahim Kamarudin from BN and Khairil Nizam from PAS.

In March 2020, Azmin led 10 MPs from PKR to defect to Bersatu, causing the collapse of the PH government.  

Amirudin said he is planning to tackle land matters, people’s welfare, education and women’s economic issues.

Yesterday he released his manifesto for Gombak and vowed to channel all his Gombak lawmaker’s allowance into the constituency.

He said the allowance will be channelled into the Gombak Community Fund if he gets into parliament. 

The fund will be used to improve local infrastructure and facilities for the benefit of Gombak’s constituents. 

“Dana Komuniti Gombak is an initiative to which I will contribute my salary as an MP. I will also invite the private and public sectors to contribute to the fund,” he said.

He said his campaign was running smoothly and hoped to cover many areas in the constituency in the run-up to the ballot. 

“Our campaign on social media is actively running. But, we still need to have physical campaigning in the community.  

“We are using social media to attract the youth to our programmes. It is not easy as we have to put in the work.  

“We have to penetrate (the segment) to convince the young and the older generation to vote for PH.”

Voters expect their representative to solve issues

S. Appareo, 70 said that Azmin may not be the right choice because he might leave as he did before during the Sheraton Move. 

“What if he leaves again? We are scared. It is better to go with the menteri besar. 

“The response is there (from Amirudin). When we lodge complaints he is there.” 

He hopes that their elected representative will address the drainage issue to prevent any blockages.  

A voter, who wished to be known as Ahmad, 42 welcomes the five-way contest. 

“This is good for our democracy. We want to see our menteri besar going up against his former boss, who left the struggle.  

“I (previously) voted for Azmin, but I believe he betrayed our vote.” 

He hopes the new representative will look into the development for the youth here.  

First-time voter G. Darshanan, 23, is excited, but has yet to make a decision on which party or candidate he is going to vote for.  

“I’m voting for the first time, so I don’t know much. 

“I will have to ask my family and do some research. Then, I will make my decision.” 

He added that out of the five candidates he only recognised Azmin and Amirudin.  

He hopes that his representative will solve the water problem in his area, which has been going on for six months. 

“They are only fixing the pipes during election period. We hope it will be resolved.” 

Another first-time voter Afiq Farhan, 19 said his focus is more towards the candidates than their parties.  

“Because for me, I’m more interested in Amirudin. He once came to my university, so I know about him better than the others.” 

He also hopes to see improvement in education, such as having diploma courses for secondary students, as suggested by Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. – November 11, 2022.