PONTIAN: Tanjung Piai independent candidate Dr Ang Chuan Lock today left many members of the press scratching their heads when he explained his reason for contesting in the Nov 16 by-election.
“Actually, I had no intention to compete with anyone. I am friends with everyone,” he said in his first press conference at Taman Sri Maju, here, today.
Today is the fourth day of the campaign and Ang has yet to start his campaigning.
It was only the second time Ang had met reporters covering the by-election, with the first being nomination day on Nov 2.
No posters or flags had been put up around Tanjung Piai and no programmes had been conducted to meet voters.
“I think the voters find it strange that I haven’t started campaigning, but I am a low-profile type of person.
“I don’t have experience in politics and that’s why I haven’t started campaigning yet,” he said.
A reporter then asked whether he thought his decision to contest was “pointless” since he had no intention to campaign and meet voters.
“Actually, I do have one hope. My name will be the third on the ballot paper.
“I’m hoping that I will win the third place and that is already enough for me because I know that the real competition is between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional.
“PH and BN are the main characters while the rest are not,” he said.
When pressed on the reason he decided to become a contender in the fight for a seat in Dewan Rakyat, Ang said he wished to highlight the importance of education.
“I just wanted to convey the message that education is extremely important and I hope the education system will be improved although I realise it will take a long time for this to happen.”
He was then asked if he was sponsored by someone to contest but he denied it.
However, he did admit that there were “some quarters who tried to sponsor” him but he had declined the offers.
“Actually I don’t wish to contest. I just wanted to relay the message on education and I think with me being part of this by-election, I can be the third choice for the voters,” he said.
One of the reasons he didn’t want to go campaigning on the ground, Dr Ang said was that he feared for his safety.
He said he was worried that supporters of other parties would be “unhappy” with him if he went to the ground to meet them.
The former Bahasa Melayu teacher was then asked how he expected to relay his messages to his voters if he refused to go campaigning.
“I will use Facebook,” he said, adding he had already accepted the fact that he would lose his RM10,000 deposit although he had only paid half of it as of now.
“I spoke to an Election Commission officer and told him I had no intention to campaign except through Facebook.
“The officer said, in that case, I don’t have to pay the remaining RM5,000 so I know I will lose that deposit,” he said.
Ang said he would start his campaign on Facebook in two days.
“I won’t be using Instagram or Twitter. Just Facebook because that’s all I know.
“I’m not a teenager, so I don’t know about the other platforms.
“I will create a new Facebook page hopefully in two days,” he said.
The Tanjung Piai by-election will see a six-cornered fight. The other candidates are Karmaine Sardini (Pakatan Harapan), Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng (Barisan Nasional), Wendy Subramaniam (Gerakan), Datuk Dr Badhrulhisham Abdul Aziz (Berjasa) and another independent candidate Faridah Aryani Abd Ghani.
The parliamentary seat fell vacant when Datuk Dr Mohd Farid Mohd Rafik, who was also deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, died on Sept 21 due to heart complications.
In the 14th General Election, Farid garnered 21,255 votes to defeat Wee (20,731 votes) and Pas candidate Nordin Othman (2,962 votes).