PUCHONG voters may see some familiar faces vying for the parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15).
One of them will likely be Puchong MCA chairman Datuk Liew Yuen Keong who contested in GE14 for the Bangi parliamentary seat.
The Seri Kembangan assemblyman from 1999 to 2008 was tipped to be Barisan Nasional’s candidate for the Puchong seat by Selangor MCA chairman Datuk Ng Chok Sin.
Liew, who has seen Seri Kembangan transform from a squatter area to commercial-cum-residential development, recalled how he would spend much of his free time engaging with villagers to listen to their problems.
“My phone was on 24 hours. Till today, that has not changed,” he said.
From the Pakatan Harapan coalition, DAP’s Yeo Bee Yin was named to contest in Puchong by the party leadership on Oct 26. She will replace Gobind Singh Deo who will now contest the Damansara seat.
Yeo, a former Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister from 2018 to 2020, is the incumbent MP for Bakri, Johor, where she won the seat by a majority of 23,211 votes, beating Koh Chon Chai from MCA and Zarul Salleh from PAS.
A likely candidate from the Perikatan Nasional coalition is Puchong Gerakan chief Jimmy Chew Jyh Gang who calls himself a “local boy” having been born and raised in Puchong.
Liew from MCA is tipped to contest Puchong under the Barisan ticket.
Chew, who has been doing community service for Puchong folk since 1997, has an active portfolio with no fewer than six associations. The Lions Club of Serdang and Malaysian Chow Clan Association are among them.
A design engineer by profession, Chew said preparations for the election machinery began two months ago.
“It is my duty as division chief to ensure things that will be needed for the election campaign are ready, even if I don’t get to contest,” said Chew.
Giving a hint that Puchong Gerakan would take the lead in the election campaign for the area is Selangor Perikatan Nasional information chief Mohd Shukor Mustaffa, who is also the head of Puchong Bersatu.
“We will do our level best among the Malay community to garner support for the Gerakan candidate,” said Mohd Shukor.
Another possible candidate for Puchong is Malaysian Society of Community Policing president Kuan Chee Heng.
Better known as “Uncle Kentang”, Kuan said he might contest as an independent but will only make a decision closer to the nomination day on Nov 5.
Kuan contested in the 2019 Semenyih by-election garnering 725 votes, which he described as being beyond his expectations.
The Puchong constituency has a total of 151,686 voters, with almost half of them Chinese, according to Seri Kembangan MCA Youth chief Tan Jie Sen, who is helping candidate hopeful Liew in the election campaign.
