By Niza Shimi
Will there be stones flying in the Batu division come to this 15th general election (GE15)? Possibly verbal stones because Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) Tian Chua (real name Chua Tian Chang) may have plans to reclaim his former constituency.
Could this mean a showdown with political newbie and feisty lawyer, Siti Zabedah Kasim who announced her candidacy in May 2022 (Malay Mail May 10)? Siti Kasim, as she’s better known, is the founder of the Malaysian Action for Justice and Unity Foundation (MAJU) and will stand for office under the Gerakan Independent (GI) movement.
She has even set up the Siti Kasim Service Centre (SKSC) and a website (mysitikasim.com) to get close to her potential voters in the Batu Division of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
According to Malay Mail (September 11, 2022), Tian Chua had to sit out GE14 due to legal issues and supported independent (now PKR) candidate, P. Prabakaran, the youngest member of parliament at 22 years when he won the seat. Tian Chua was a two-term MP for Batu.
As a newbie in politics, Siti Kasim is already well known for her causes and her daring do for voicing concerns not many dare to take on. She’s not young and she’s certainly had her share of life’s challenges and has been an activist for more than 18 years. As she says it, she puts her heart into her work.
This will be an interesting showdown because both Siti Kasim and Tian Chua are vocal and most certainly will wake up sleepy Parliamentarians and keep them on their toes. But which one will win? Other candidates have not yet announced plans to contest.
Batu (P155) is a federal constituency since 1986. The GE14 ethnic breakdown (The Star) shows Malays (42.52%), Chinese (38.26%), Indians (17.46%) and others make up the voters. Batu has been a Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold until Tian Chua’s upset win in 2008.
As an activist and lawyer, Siti Kasim has had her share of headline-hogging controversies, at times pitting her against conservative Islamic scholars but she seems to have toned down the rhetoric and gotten down to work as a serious political candidate.
Her public apology to the Islamic Religious Affairs Minister Idris Ahmad (PAS) for mistaking his Buruj watch for a Rolex is a sign of maturity. Very few politicians know how to apologise and when to admit their mistakes.
An alumnus of the Queen Mary University of London, Siti also writes a column, Siti Lights, for The Star newspaper.
In a Queen Mary alumni interview, she said: “I see the way the country is going and there is no political will by the politicians to change the landscape, the policies, the intrusion of religion in our schools and our civil service, none of the politicians dare to take this bull by the horns, they don’t dare to even talk about it because it’s deemed as ‘sensitive’ in Malaysia.”
Siti said: “The problem in Malaysia is the political parties control their MPs. So, if you have a good leader, who really thinks for the people, that’s ok you can follow their guidelines, but we have leaders in this country who think about themselves and they make decisions for themselves, not the people.
“So, we need to find another way, we need a strong and courageous leader to make the change. So now we’re trying to promote this idea of independence to the public and explain why it will really work in Malaysia,” she added.
These are just excerpts from the interview. Perhaps it will shed some light as to why she decided to leave her comfort zone to wade into politics. Siti Kasim spares no one and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. As someone who speaks her mind, Siti has locked horns, sort of, with Rafizi Ramli (PKR) and Syed Saddiq (MUDA).
She will be the one to watch in GE15.
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