State polls: Candidates focus on improving roads, providing tuition to students in Rawang

Traffic congestion and poor road condition are among the main issues besetting Rawang. — LOW BOON TAT/The Star

RAWANG may appear to be a safe seat for the incumbent Pakatan Harapan assemblyman but his young opponent from Perikatan Nasional is determined to give him a good fight.

It will be a straight fight this time between Chua Wei Kiat, 34, from DAP and R. Rejean Kumar from Bersatu Bersekutu.

In 2018, Chua won with a majority of 23,860 votes against opponents from Barisan Nasional, PAS and an Independent candidate.

Chua said if he retained the seat, he would look at addressing bigger issues in Rawang, which required support from the Federal Government.

Chua (centre) wants Rawang folk to be able to avoid congestion when travelling to Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

“Since we are now part of the unity government, we hope some of the bigger issues here such as traffic congestion and shortage of government schools will be addressed,” said Chua.

He said many middle-income families travelled from Selayang to Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur every day for work.

“The road condition in Rawang needs to be improved.

“Voting for the same government both at Federal and state level makes the process easier and we can convey the people’s needs,” said Chua, who has a business and marketing degree.

He said there had been support from the Barisan Nasional machinery, which was working closely with Pakatan to ensure the pact would retain the seat.

Rejean (second from right) says if he gets elected, he will provide more tuition opportunities for students from underprivileged families.

His opponent Rejean, 26, born in neighbouring Kuang, said Indians, despite being a minority in the country, should be given the opportunity by political parties to contest in elections.

He said Perikatan was labelled as a “racist” party by some but this did not hold water.

“There are six Indian candidates contesting under Perikatan in Selangor and I am the youngest candidate.”

He also said, “I feel it is time we do away with the handout mentality and empower our youths.

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“If I get elected, I want to provide more tuition opportunities for students from underprivileged families in Rawang.

“As a local, I feel I can relate better with the people here,” said Rejean, adding that education was close to his heart.

There are 76,841 voters in Rawang.

The breakdown of voters are Malay (26.98%), Chinese (45.7%), Indian (25.75%), Sabahan (0.23%), Sarawakian (0.18%), Orang Asli (0.03%) and others (1.14%).