Wee pays last respects to DAP rep’s mother

AYER HITAM: They may be on opposite sides of the political fence but that did not stop Ayer Hitam MP Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong from paying his respects at the funeral wake of the mother of DAP Yong Peng assemblyman Chew Pek Choo.

Dr Wee, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, spent several minutes chatting with Chew and her family members before paying his respects.

Chew’s mother, Ko Bak Tiang, 87, passed away on Wednesday.

There was an awkward moment when Chew came face-to-face with Ling Kian Soon, 34, the MCA candidate who is slated to challenge her for the Yong Peng state seat in the general election.

Besides Yong Peng, the other state seat under the Ayer Hitam parliamentary area is Semarang, which is held by Datuk Shamsul Bari Jamali of Umno.

Chew, 50, is expected to defend the seat while Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong will be going against Dr Wee in Ayer Hitam.

The Wee-Liew contest is building up to be one of the hot fights in Johor.

Earlier, Dr Wee visited a remote Malay village known as Kampung Parit Samion to hand over an allocation of RM140,000 to rebuild the village surau.

The headman Zailan Judin told the villagers that everyone knows Dr Wee’s track record.

“There is no need to elaborate on what he has done for us.

“He was not well a few years ago but he has recovered and now walks faster than me.

“We share the same thinking except that he is very fair-skinned and I am very dark,” he said to everyone’s amusement.

Differences aside: Dr Wee (left) pays his respects at Ko’s funeral wake. Looking on are Ling (second from left), Chew (third from right) and family members at the wake.