JOHOR BHARU, July 1 — The experience of serving as a special officer to the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub forms the basis for the political approach of Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate for the Permas State Legislative Assembly seat, Sharon Teo Siew Hui, who has pledged to prioritise service to the people if given a mandate in the Johor State Election (PRN).
Teo, 36, said he learned a lot about leadership values from the former Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, especially humility, being approachable and always prioritizing the welfare of the people regardless of race or region.
He said the late, who was synonymous with the title “Father of Mercy Malaysia”, was the main source of inspiration that shaped his political approach.
“I joined Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) in 2018 because my mentor was the late. Before that, I only helped him voluntarily, but after getting to know him better, I was attracted by his personality and the way he served the people.
“He is a very humble person. That is the spirit I want to bring to Permas,” he said in an interview with Bernama today.
According to Teo, the experience of accompanying Salahuddin throughout several series of General Elections (GE) and PRNs opened his eyes to the fact that the job of a representative is not just to receive complaints, but to ensure that every problem is truly resolved.
“I still remember how the late president personally monitored the progress of the people’s complaints until late at night. Sometimes until midnight he would send WhatsApp asking whether the people’s complaints had been resolved or not. That is the approach I want to bring to Permas,” he said.
Commenting on the claim that he was a “parachute candidate”, Teo said that the notion did not reflect his political journey as he had been active with Amanah since 2018, starting as an ordinary member before being appointed as the Assistant Secretary of Amanah Johor and now the Head of Amanah Johor’s Young Women (WARDA).
He said Permas was also not a foreign area for him as he often followed the late leader to the field in the area during previous election campaigns.
Teo said the response he received throughout the five days of campaigning gave him confidence to continue reaching out to voters of all races.
He said among the issues frequently raised by residents were infrastructure problems such as potholed roads, damaged back alleys of business premises, traffic congestion and public facilities that needed to be upgraded.
Apart from that, Teo said he wanted to pay attention to the young people, especially first-time voters and school leavers, by listening to their needs and reaching out to them through social media and e-sports programmes.
If elected as a representative, he said the first 100 days would be used to identify the most pressing issues in the Permas DUN, collect complete data and draw up an action plan to solve the residents’ problems in stages.
“My three main focuses are launching PermasKu as a one-stop centre for managing people’s complaints so that every complaint is monitored until resolved and conducting a comprehensive audit of infrastructure across Permas to identify priorities that need to be resolved.”
“In addition, I will go to the field in each area to meet with residents and develop an action plan based on the real needs of the people, not assumptions,” he said.
The Permas state seat saw a four-cornered contest involving Teo, the incumbent of the seat who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Baharudin Mohamed Taib, Dr Zamil Najwah from the United Malaysia Party (Bersama) and T. Vela representing the Perikatan Nasional (PN).
— BERNAMA
