MELAKA – Despite being dropped as a candidate for the Machap Jaya constituency, it appears to the public that there is no bad blood between incumbent Datuk Ginie Lim and the top echelons of PKR.
Although speculation is rife that the Alor Gajah PKR chief is being sidelined by the central leadership, Lim has been working the ground in constituencies particularly under the parliamentary seat.
During a Deepavali event in Asahan yesterday, Lim was seen campaigning at the constituency alongside party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and vice-president Chua Tian Chang, better known as Tian Chua.
She arrived at the venue abreast with party leaders to lend support to ex-Umno leader Datuk Seri Idris Haron, who is now contesting under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) banner in the highly sought-after Asahan seat.
Apart from showing support to Idris, Lim also met and chatted with locals at back-to-back events organised by the party.
However, when approached by the waiting press, Lim refused to answer any question pertaining to her presence at party events, saying, “I am pressed for time. I have to rush off to another campaigning venue.”
PKR’s key to victory in Asahan?
Speaking to members of the press, Chua said Lim is still part of the party fold and has been on her rounds since the start of the campaigning period.
“All PKR members are very magnanimous,” the former Batu lawmaker said in jest.
Lim is the branch chief for the entire Alor Gajah. She is definitely still with the party and will continue to help campaign (for us). She has been here for 15 years. All the events (during the Melaka election) are organised by Lim.
“There are five state seats under Alor Gajah. During the 14th general election, we did not win Asahan.
“Therefore, she has to make the extra effort to swing the votes.”
For the record, Lim had begun working the ground in Machap Jaya since she first contested the seat in 2008.
She contested again in the same seat five years later, but to no avail, as she lost by a slim majority of 152 votes.
In 2018, she won on her third attempt (garnering 5,550 votes) with a majority of 1,336 votes, in a three-way fight with MCA’s Datuk Koh Nai Kwong and Wan Zahidi Wan Ismail (PAS).
However, Lim was not nominated this time around. Instead, PKR chose to field Kota Melaka PKR branch vice chief Law Bing Haw at the constituency.
It is understood that Lim had enraged her party’s leadership in the past few years, when she was one of two assemblymen who caused the nomination of Melaka PKR chief Datuk Halim Bachik as Dewan Negara senator to be defeated.
Lim, along with Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis – who was still a PKR assemblyman then – left the august House before the vote took place, causing PH to fall short of the required majority to ratify the nomination.
Lim was also said to have been sidelined by the party due to her association with former PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali who left the party for Bersatu. – The Vibes, November 15, 2021
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