Another\u00a0son(s) follow father style. Well, hope he can do something about Puchong toll and traffic jam problem, but seriously…i think it won’t be solved in the next 5 years. Instead, it will only get worse.<\/p>\n
Gobind wants to speak up for Puchong<\/p>\n
http:\/\/malaysiakini.com\/news\/78406
\nAndrew Ong | Feb 22, 08 10:48am<\/p>\n
DAP’s aspirant for the Puchong seat Gobind Singh Deo sees the highway toll charges as one of the major election issues in the constituency. Gobind, who looks set as DAP’s candidate for the seat, believes that if elected he would be able to effectively convey the grouses of Puchong residents on toll charges in Parliament.<\/p>\n
“Even I am a victim of the toll charges. I stay in Petaling Jaya and I have to travel to Puchong pretty often, sometimes several times a day which can amount to more than RM10,” said Gobind, who is DAP legal bureau secretary. Puchong has arguably the highest number of toll booths within a township’s immediate vicinity in the country. A 60 percent hike in Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP) in 2006 also saw heavy condemnation from residents which was followed by several public protests.<\/p>\n
Should he be fielded as a candidate there, Gobind is likely to face Gerakan incumbent Lau Yeng Peng who had just completed his first term as MP and had previously served as a Subang Jaya municipal councillor.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Malaysiakini on his maiden foray in the general elections today, Gobind, 35, said he was not worried about the prospects of facing Lau and he believes that Puchong voters would prefer an opposition MP due to pervading local and national issues. “One of the most obvious problems is the traffic and toll problems there. These are areas we are looking at in order to uplift the living standards of Puchong residents,” said Gobind, who’s through his 12-year legal career had represented the likes of Anwar Ibrahim and more recently the five Hindraf lawyers currently held under the Internal Security Act.<\/p>\n
DAP has won Puchong before<\/p>\n
Gobind also expressed confidence that the people of Puchong were not alien to the idea of being represented by the opposition as they had done so in 1986 and 1990 by electing former DAP stalwart V David.<\/p>\n
He also believed that the racially-mixed constituents of Puchong were very responsive to the latest developments in national issues such as inflation and Lingam Tape episode.<\/p>\n
“I know its not going to be easy (to win the seat). But there are issues that only DAP will raise which would affect the country and Puchong people are generally responsive to such issues,” he added. Gobind said he had already met PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and notable PAS leaders on his interest to contest in Puchong and claims to have the support of both parties.<\/p>\n
On him being one of the handful of Sikhs contesting in the March 8 general election, Gobind said the lack of a single Sikh in the MIC’s lineup announced yesterday shows that the party does not represent all Indians. “Wheres the DAP gives everybody a chance to be represented,” said Gobind, Gobind, his brother Jagdeep, 37, and their father Karpal, 68, are the only three Sikhs confirmed to be contesting in the upcoming general election.<\/p>\n
Daddy’s influence<\/p>\n
Gobind admitted that his decision to accept the DAP’s suggestion to contest in the general election was due to “inspiration” from dad, a DAP stalwart and previously known as the “tiger of Jelutong”. “He has not asked me to involve myself in politics but he has definitely inspired us to take part in the political process. He placed us in a position where we could see for ourselves how important it is to rise to the occasion to fight against injustice and be of help to those in need,” he said.<\/p>\n
However, living under the father’s shadow would prove to be difficult for him and his brother as they would have to fight hard to prove their individual capabilities to the people. “It is a plus point in a sense that it’s a very effective way of introducing ourselves as the sons of a political stalwart,” said Gobind with a smile.<\/p>\n
In 2004, Puchong saw a three cornered fight between Gerakan’s Lau (21,219 votes), PAS’ Dr Azmi Jamion (9,409) and DAP’s Wong Choon Yun (9,185).\u00a0 Based on the last election, Puchong has a total of 58,534 voters of which 47 percent were Malay, 36 percent were Chinese and 16 percent were Indian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Another\u00a0son(s) follow father style. Well, hope he can do something about Puchong toll and traffic jam problem, but seriously…i think it won’t be solved in the next 5 years. Instead, it will only get worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[119,130],"class_list":["post-1380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indian","tag-dap","tag-election-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}