BANGI: Former lecturer Jamal Hisham Hashim was at the listening end of a “lecture” as a small group of Bangi residents vented their frustrations with how the authorities handled the floods in the area.
He took notes, jotting down the points raised, ranging from complaints falling on deaf ears, and the lack of concern for the environment, to fears of impending floods.
At times, he would chime in, to tell them of best practices in Europe for mitigating floods.
Jamal, 65, is a former lecturer of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and is contesting as an independent candidate for the Bangi parliamentary seat.
He had been invited by residents for a dialogue. After hearing about the hardship endured by residents in the Taman Sri Langat area, and the stress involved in trying to get the attention of the authorities, Jamal told them: “This shouldn’t be the rakyat’s problem”.
He told the 11 residents present that as an independent, he would not be confined by party politics.
“When there is politics, that is where we find the problems,” he told FMT. He said someone who is entrenched in party politics would easily forget they were supposed to represent the people.
Based on his interactions with the people while out campaigning, Jamal said, voters had lost confidence in the three main coalitions – Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional.
The voters are unsure about who to back and felt there would be no change with the constant politicking among the parties .
Jamal said the voters are left frustrated as nothing gets done even when they approach representatives of the federal or state governments. And most of the time, they are pushed around in circles, he said.
That was another reason Jamal decided to run in the elections – he wants to get things done.
“I don’t know if what I am doing (standing as an independent) will see the problems of the public solved, but now I’m convinced that we are doing it the wrong way (in terms of looking after the wellbeing of the public),” he said.
“Voters really want someone who listens to them. They are not expecting you to move mountains, and I know I can do this.”
Jamal is among 108 independent candidates in the general election, the highest number of independents to date. In 2013, there were 79 independent candidates, and 24 contested in the 2018 general election.
His rivals for the Bangi seat are Syahredzan Johan (PH), Nazrul Hakim Md Nazir (PN), Hoh Hee Lee (BN), Annuar Salleh (Pejuang) and independents Fauzi Hasim and M Suthan.
The constituency has 303,000 voters.
In 2018, Ong Kian Ming (PH) polled 102,000 votes to win by a majority of more than 67,000 votes over his rivals from PAS, BN and Parti Rakyat Malaysia.
