Penang’s youngest state rep wants to continue dad’s legacy

BUTTERWORTH: A day after winning one of the hottest contests in the Penang state election, 30-year-old Izhar Shah Arif Shah (pic) wasted no time hitting the ground to understand the problems of his constituents.

By doing so, Izhar Shah, who is Penang’s youngest state assembly member, hopes to continue the legacy of his father, Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah, who had represented Seberang Jaya from 2004 to 2013.

The Sunday after he won the seat, Izhar Shah met with residents of a flat in Seberang Jaya and looked into ways to solve traffic jams in the area, which contains several major arteries leading to Penang island and Kedah.

Like his father, Izhar Shah speaks Mandarin, a skill he hopes will give him an advantage with the area’s sizeable Chinese community.

“The people have said they want a representative that is present at all times. I am grateful for the support and guidance from my father, and I will try my very best to follow in his footsteps as a good assemblyman,” said Izhar Shah, who is married with a three-year-old son.

In the Aug 12 election, Izhar from Perikatan Nasional polled 20,877 votes against Pakatan Harapan’s Johari Kassim who received 15,951 votes.

“I am looking forward to working with all regardless of their background or political affiliation,” said the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka computer science graduate.

Izhar Shah, who is from Perikatan component party Bersatu, holds several posts in the party’s Armada or youth wing.

He is Armada national executive secretary (strategic), Penang Armada assistant secretary, Permatang Pauh Armada chief as well as Seberang Jaya II Bersatu branch chief.

Seberang Jaya is one of the three state seats in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency, which was once a stronghold of Pakatan Harapan’s component party PKR. The others are Permatang Pasir and Penanti.

Perikatan made a clean sweep of all the three seats.

In Permatang Pasir, Perikatan’s Amir Hamzah Abdul Hashim polled 13,526 votes to recapture the seat for component party PAS, by defeating Pakatan’s Faiz Fadzil who garnered 10,418 votes.

In Penanti, which was previously held for four terms by PKR, Perikatan’s Zulkefli Bakar polled 12,586 votes to defeat Pakatan’s Rosidi Hussain with 9,011.“We will prove that we are a fair and equal party for all. Although we do not get to govern the state, we are still able to raise local matters to the administration,” said Zulkefli.