KUALA KUBU BAHARU – It will be a four-cornered fight for this state seat on May 11, with the two main rivals Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) facing a candidate from Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM), as well as an independent.
Returning officer Yuhanas Auree Kamaruddin announced their names at 10.38am after their nomination papers were verified.
PH’s candidate is Pang Sock Tao, 31, the press secretary of Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming, while PN is fielding Hulu Selangor Bersatu acting division head Khairul Azhari Saut, 54.
PRM’s candidate is Hafizah Zainuddin, while the independent is Nyau Ke Xin.
During the nomination period, former DAP member Chng Boon Lai had submitted his papers, but now appears to have been rejected.
Pang, a graduate in electronics and electrical engineering, is looking to defend the seat for DAP-PH, which has represented Kuala Kubu Baharu since 2013.
Her work experience so far has centred on DAP, which she joined in 2017, the year she graduated, and became the party’s assistant producer and presenter for its video channel, Ubah TV.
Hailing from Ampang, Selangor, Pang has also been a special officer to former energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister Yeo Bee Yin.
Khairul Azhari, in contrast, is a Kuala Kubu Baharu local and knows the Hulu Selangor area well, having served as a councillor with the Hulu Selangor municipal council. He has also been a grassroots politician in the Bersatu division there, besides having corporate and business experience.
Meanwhile, PRM’s Hafizah is the party’s deputy information bureau chief, while independent candidate Nyau is the manager of a logistics company in Shah Alam.
40,266 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the seat which is around 50% Malay, 30% Chinese, 18% Indian, with Orang Asli as the remainder.
The by-election is being held following the demise of its incumbent, DAP’s Lee Kee Hiong, 58, on March 21 due to cancer.
In the state election held in August last year, Lee won the seat with a 4,119-vote majority, defeating three other candidates from PN, PRM and Muda. – April 27, 2024