Photo: LOW LAY PHON/The Star
COMMUNITY activist Yee Poh Ping (pic) has thrown his hat in the ring to contest the Kepong parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15).
The 62-year-old said his track record of serving the locals by highlighting their concerns to the authorities qualified him to be their MP.
"For 26 years, I have served the constituency without pay, by always going to the ground to check on local issues.
"I am always in contact with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and continuously work to bring changes to Kepong," he said on Friday (Nov 4).
Yee met with representatives of several residents' associations at the Kepong Food Court in Taman Usahawan Kepong in Kuala Lumpur to announce his intention to stand as an independent candidate in GE15.
Yee said he initially approached Parti Warisan, which was making its foray into the peninsula.
However, Warisan declined his offer.
In GE15, Yee will face DAP's Lim Lip Eng, Gerakan's Phaang Jing Fatt and Warisan's Young Shang Yi.
Yee said his decades of serving Kepong folk spoke for itself.
"I have cultivated a good working relationship with DBKL, their mayors and other government agencies.
"Various issues were attended to and fixed thanks to my efforts in highlighting them," he said.
Yee said although Kepong was traditionally seen as an Opposition seat, it was his lifelong dream to serve as its MP.
"Voters in Kepong must change their attitude and create history in this election," he added.
Taman Seri Segambut Residents' Associations chairman Gary Low, 62, expressed support for Yee.
"We hope locals in Kepong will give him a chance," he said.
Taman Putra Kepong RA chairman Tay Thiam Seng, 66, said Yee's efforts in liaising with DBKL had benefitted locals.
"If he becomes our MP, it will give him a better platform to speak up on Kepong issues in the Dewan Rakyat," he added.
This is not Yee's first foray into electoral politics.
In GE13, he contested as an Independent candidate, garnering 2,757 votes, about 4.7% of the 58,585 voter turnout.
He stood against Chandrakumanan Arumugam (BN–PPP) and Dr Tan Seng Giaw (DAP) where the latter won with a 40,307-vote majority.
Among the then independent candidates who contested in Kuala Lumpur, Yee had the highest vote count.
