KUALA LUMPUR – Outspoken lawyer and activist Siti Kasim will be making her political debut in the widely talked about 15th general election (GE15) as an independent candidate under the Gerak Independent (GI) movement.
In a press conference in conjunction with the launch of the movement’s app and candidate announcement today, the social activist said she is eyeing an urban parliamentary seat but did not divulge further details.
Siti added that GI candidates are ready to take on “bullfrogs” such as former prime ministers Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Najib Razak in their respective seats.
“We aim to win. We are not here to play the fool, we take this seriously.
“We are not trying to bring down or demonise anyone but we must start something different – an approach which has not been done before in Malaysia but has been done in Western countries.
“We want to show that you can have good people in the Parliament, not just based on political parties, and you can form a government even though there are more independent MPs than political parties,” she said.
During the launch, she introduced five other GI candidates – former Sg Benut MP Mohd Tawfik Ismail, civil social activist K.J. John, lawyer Charles Chow, lawyer Roland Cheng, and social activist Raveentheran Suntheralingam.
Siti said GI will only be fielding a maximum of 10 candidates in the upcoming general election as independents aligned to the group’s five pillars of commitments to the people.
The five pillars are:
- Malaysia Agreement 1963 – delivering to Sabah and Sarawak all that was promised without further delay
- Ending divisive politics with a Malaysia for all Malaysians
- Restoring all guaranteed freedom to the rakyat
- Restoring all institutional power to the rakyat
- Establishing a needs-based affirmative and poverty eradication policy and programme
In addition, she said GI is open to work with other “friendly” political parties and is ready to have discussions with political coalitions that share the same vision.
“We are not saying that we are not going to talk to other parties about potentially working together, we are here to make Malaysia better.
“We need to work as a team, not just among us, but also with any political parties. If the politician is doing something right and good for the people, I will show my support.”
Tawfik also shared the same sentiments as Siti, saying that strategic alliances are much needed to achieve set goals when it comes to politics.
“If we are trying to go for fairer MA63 discussions, we need to engage not just the Sarawak and Sabah MPs but also the peninsular MPs and get them on our side,
“That is the kind of alliance we feel we need to execute,” said the eldest son of the late Tun Ismail Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s second deputy prime minister.
When asked if he would return to contest in the Simpang Renggam seat, previously known as Sg Benut, the former Umno MP indicated that it is still too early for him to decide which seat to contest in during the next election.
“I’m not interested to go in as an MP tied to a party, because I am coming in as an independent.
“Whether it is Sg Benut or another constituency will depend on the political atmosphere at the time of the election.” – The Vibes, December 16, 2021
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