The father of all elections
IF THE 13th general election was billed as the mother of all elections, the 14th General Election is being dubbed the father of all elections.
According to Federal Territories Umno secretary Datuk Seri Syed Ali Alhabshee, the coming election will be the most challenging one in Kuala Lumpur as it is dealing with an educated demographic.
“Apart from bread and butter issues and the high cost of living, which are going to be a major determining factor for voters, there is also the electorate, which is seeking answers to many questions,” he says.
Syed Ali does not dispute the fact that it will be a fiercely contested battle, which is why the Federal Territory Barisan Nasional is not resting on its laurels and realises that it has a massive task ahead in its tussle for the 11 parliamentary seats offered by Kuala Lumpur.
Deciding factors
Apart from the high cost of living, urbanites are advocating sustainable city living and are particularly concerned about over-development.
The quality of life will definitely be among the deciding factors for voters in GE14.
In a recent interview, FT Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the party was working hard to win back four seats in Kuala Lumpur.
Having won both the Setiawangsa and Titiwangsa seats but losing all of the nine seats contested in Kuala Lumpur in the last election, the Putrajaya MP said Barisan hoped to better its performance this time around by banking on winnable seats.
Meanwhile, KL-ites like Zulkifly Mohd Ali are hoping to see a change in government for a better Kuala Lumpur.
“I hope to see less wastage, expenses and red tape in government agencies like Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Land office.
“Every day, I pass by Bulatan Datuk Onn along Jalan Parlimen in Kuala Lumpur and am reminded of the massive wastage in front of me,” says the Segambut resident.
Zulkifly is referring to the RM29mil FT Ministry beautification and upgrading project in the area, which has been stalled for more than a year due to an incompetent contractor unable to finish work.
The project has been at a standstill since last February.
“Government tenders should be open and must go to the best people who can do the job to ensure that the project is completed,” says Zulkifly.
Sharon Ling, who lives in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, wants to see an end to high-rise development in congested townships like TTDI and Bangsar, where traffic is a major problem.
“We need a DBKL that is free from political interference and is independent in its own right,” she adds.
A long-time resident of Brickfields, Annie Samuel hopes for change that will facilitate local government election.
“Local government election is crucial for a city like Kuala Lumpur, where ordinary people like me can participate in the administration of the city by having a say in what goes on in our township.
“All we want is to have a voice and to engage with the local authority,” she adds.
There are also voices demanding the opportunity to do business in the city without having to bear the brunt of the authorities coming down hard on them.
“I lost my job last year and decided to sell nasi lemak,” shares Siti Mariam of Kampung Segambut Dalam.
“Sometimes I sell by the roadside and sometimes outside schools, but there are times when DBKL officers will ask me to move away.
“Times are hard and we hope the authorities understand that we are only trying to survive,” she says.
Jehan Jamaludin, a Grabcar driver from Bandar Tun Razak, hopes to see reduced traffic congestion in the city.
“Traffic is becoming worse by the day and when it rains, it is chaos. I want a government that can ease the jam, as we need better policies to control the number of cars in Kuala Lumpur,” Jehan said.
Changes to constituency boundaries
On the recent redelineation exercise by the Election Commission (EC), while there have been no new parliamentary seats created in Kuala Lumpur, amendments were made to the electoral borders for 10 parliaments in the Federal capital.
With the exception of Titiwangsa, every other constituency has seen changes to their electoral boundaries, with notable changes in Lembah Pantai and Bukit Bintang.
According to the EC, changes were made to areas such as Bukit Bintang, where housing developments had reached a “saturated” stage and the voter increase would be low.
The affected areas are in constituencies like Wangsa Maju, Batu, Setiawangsa, Segambut, Lembah Pantai, Cheras and Bandar Tun Razak, which are the focus of rapid housing development.
Lembah Pantai Keadilan Youth chief Fahmi Fadzil says the redelineation proposal for Lembah Pantai has excluded Brickfields from the constituency.
“We have areas where we have built good relationships, such as Ang Seng and Thambi Dollah, that have been completely pushed to Bukit Bintang,” he notes.
Lembah Pantai will instead absorb 6,598 voters from Tasik Perdana.
Meanwhile, two polling districts in Lembah Pantai – Kampung
Bahagia and Kampung Bohol – will be moved to Seputeh.
Pang Kin Cheong, who is the Barisan Services and Public Complaints Bureau chairman for Seputeh, says five polling districts have been moved from the constituency.
“Taman Salak Selatan, Sungai Besi, Salak Tempatan Dalam, Salak Tempatan Changkat and Salak Tempatan Bukit will be relocated to Bukit Bintang,” he adds.
This will cause a reduction of voters in Seputeh from 88,000 to 85,000.
In Bandar Tun Razak, the polling districts will be reduced from 25 to 19, a reduction of more than 15,000 registered voters.
Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng says the EC’s final redelineation report proposed that the voting district of Tasik Perdana, where police headquarters Bukit Aman is located, be moved from the Segambut parliamentary constituency to Lembah Pantai.
“Tasik Perdana has more than 6,000 postal voters and they are traditionally supporters of the ruling party.
“The polling district Kolam Air, consisting of 2,970 voters, from the Batu parliamentary constituency, will instead be added to Segambut,” says Lim.
History
Historically, the Federal Territories were originally part of two states – Selangor and Sabah.
Kuala Lumpur (the national capital) and Putrajaya (the administrative centre) were carved out of Selangor, while Labuan (the offshore financial centre) was part of Sabah.
On Feb 1, 1974, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Agreement was signed and Kuala Lumpur became the first Federal Territory.
Kuala Lumpur today has 11 parliamentary constituencies.
The last redelineation exercise was carried out in 2003 and saw the introduction of the Setiawangsa seat.
But did you know that Kuala Lumpur initially had only five parliamentary constituencies from 1974 to 1986?
They were Damansara, Kepong, Kuala Lumpur Bandar, Setapak and Sungei Besi.
After a redelineation exercise in 1986, five additional constituencies were created, namely Batu, Bukit Bintang, Lembah Pantai, Seputeh and Titiwangsa.
The Sungai Besi and Kepong constituencies were retained and the Damansara, Kuala Lumpur Bandar and Setapak seats were abolished, making it seven constituencies in total.
In 1994, another redelineation was carried out and the constituencies of Segambut, Wangsa Maju, Bandar Tun Razak and Cheras were created while Sungei Besi was abolished, making it 10 constituencies.
In 2003, the final constituency –
Setiawangsa – was created, making it a total of 11 constituencies in Kuala Lumpur.
Currently, Barisan has two seats in Kuala Lumpur – Setiawangsa and Titiwangsa, which are under Umno.
The DAP holds five seats – Bukit Bintang, Cheras, Seputeh, Segambut and Kepong, while PKR has three seats, which are Lembah Pantai, Wangsa Maju and Batu.
Bandar Tun Razak, which
was formerly under PKR, is now an independent seat after its MP and former Selangor mentri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim became an Independent after he was sacked by PKR in 2014.