JOHOR BARU – Johor Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) chief Steven Choong is contesting the Puteri Wangsa seat to gauge the support of voters after his exit from PKR last year.
The Tebrau MP won the federal seat under a PKR ticket during the 2018 general elections with a whopping 62% of the votes.
However, on February 28 last year, Choong and Julau MP Larry Sng defected from PKR, becoming independent parliamentarians pledging support for then prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
This time, during the upcoming Johor polls on March 12, Choong will be testing the waters in Puteri Wangsa, a state seat in the federal constituency of Tebrau.
“I want to see if the voters really reject me or not,” Choong told The Vibes at Lotus Hypermarket in Tebrau.
He said that after his defection from PKR, it took six months for voters to start trusting him again.
Of course, he said, there are still a minority of “die-hard Pakatan Harapan (PH)” supporters who will not even want to take his campaign flyers now.
But this is not a novel situation for Choong, who points out the same thing happened among Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters when he campaigned in 2013 for PKR.
“If you want to be in politics, you have to accept that you can’t please everyone. In politics, you can’t feel hurt when constituents don’t want to accept your flyers, for example,” he said.
Support for Muhyiddin on condition of access to ministers
Among the reasons why Choong believes that perceptions of him in Tebrau have improved is due to the fact that he was able to solve issues faced by voters after pledging support to Muhyiddin, who was leading the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration.
He said that the Pagoh MP promised Choong he would have direct access to ministers over issues that plague Tebrau.
“During PH’s administration it was difficult to access ministers even as an MP from the coalition.
“If you don’t believe me, ask any of the backbencher PH MPs,” Choong said.
The move to support Muhyiddin, he said, allowed him to solve problems faced by his constituents ranging from securing vaccination appointments to getting varied standard operating procedures for business owners.
“For example, the SOPs for vegetable wholesalers particularly with regards to operating hours didn’t make sense.
“So I informed the relevant ministry, which then attended to the matter with the National Security Council,” Choong said.
Nevertheless, despite Choong’s continued support for Putrajaya and the BN administration led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri, PBM is contesting solo in Johor.
The initial idea was to participate in a political alliance. However, Choong said attempts to engage with BN at the federal and state levels drew no responses from the coalition.
Nevertheless, PBM is still open to forming an alliance with any coalition – even PH – after the polls on March 12.
“As a small party, you need to be in the government to serve the people effectively.
“PBM only needs to win one seat, and even then, the party can become a kingmaker,” Choong explained.
‘I did not ruin PKR’s reputation in Tebrau’
When it was announced that Amanah paved the way for Muda to contest the Puteri Wangsa seat, the move drew the scorn of Johor PKR Wanita chief Napsiah Khamis who previously told The Vibes that she has done hard work in the constituency.
In fact, Napsiah said that after Choong quit the party, her party had to do extensive work to repair its reputation.
Choong rubbished this however, saying that his decision to support Muhyiddin at the time was personal.
“Napsiah said she had to fix PKR’s reputation, but I did not damage the party’s reputation. When I left, I did it for personal reasons and did not attack PKR or its president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he contended.
The Tebrau MP also said that he did not ask PKR members to quit the party with him.
In fact, he added, constituents thought that he had joined Bersatu, but said his ideals for a multiracial platform negated any such possibilities of joining the Malay-based party.
If the image of PKR was harmed, Choong asserted, it was probably PKR’s own doing.
Choong said he was told PKR has no intention of allowing him to contest Tebrau in the next election.
This became more apparent to Choong when Napsiah and PKR Johor deputy chief Jimmy Puah started partaking in activities in his constituency.
“Yes, they were prepping others to take my place, and it’s known that Puah wants the Tebrau seat, which is why he was working closely with Napsiah here.
“I told Anwar that if he wants to drop me, just tell me. Anwar said no, and that they should work with me as I am the MP here. But they (Napsiah and Puah) were doing work without me.
“What message is that sending me?”
For the Johor elections, Choong will contest the Puteri Wangsa against Muda’s Amira Aisya, MCA’s Ng Yew Aik, Gerakan’s Loh Kah Yong, Pejuang’s Khairil Anwar Razali, and independent candidate Adzrin Adam.
Previously, the Puteri Wangsa seat was won by Bersatu’s Mazlan Bujang in 2018 when the party was still part of the PH coalition with 70.25% of the votes. – The Vibes, February 28, 2022
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