Fight me ‘man to man’, PKR ‘princess’ tells Raja Nong Chik
By Anith Adilah
The Malay Mail Online30 March 2018
Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar speaks during the Pakatan Harapan Lembah Pantai fundraising dinner at SJK (C) Chung Kwo in Kuala Lumpur March 29, 2018. ― Picture by Miera ZulyanaMore
KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Incumbent Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has challenged Umno hopeful Datuk Seri Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin to a direct contest for the seat, which she may not be defending in the GE14.
The 37-year-old, once known as PKR’s “princess”, threw down the gauntlet during the Lembah Pantai Pakatan Harapan (PH) fundraising dinner at SJK (C) Chung Kwo here last night, in the latest verbal spat through the media in recent weeks.
“If you are so present in the area and you can help solve all the Lembah Pantai people’s problems, that is really great but do it fairly.
“Accord me the same assistance and remove all the 7,800 postal votes and we fight man to man,” she said.
Despite being bested by Nurul Izzah in the Election 2013, Raja Nong Chik has regularly visited the urban parliamentary seat that also has a significant percentage of urban poor living in high-rises and provided his aid.
Some residents have said they see Raja Nong Chik more often than the incumbent MP.
However, Nurul Izzah denied neglecting Lembah Pantai constituents and insisted she has tried her best with her limited resources.
“We do what we can. We have a running office which is open five days a week, we have tuition centres which have been operating for five years now and we have the food stamp programme.
“Maybe if I did not have to spend a lot of time axing big scale projects like Taman Rimba Kiara and received the rightful allocation as an MP, I could have done more for the people,” she said.
Nurul Izzah added that she was irked by the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) allegations of irresponsibility against federal Opposition MPs, asserting that the ruling coalition held an unfair advantage.
“For instance, how is it that an Umno division chief gets more leeway and allowed to use City Hall’s resources, but the MP is denied all of these?” she asked.
“Whenever I do something for the people, I don’t go around making public announcements because that is what is expected of me as a wakil rakyat,” she said.
The PH pact managed to raise some RM20,000 during the dinner last night, though attendance was not 100 per cent.
There were 70 tables, which can seat 10 diners each, but there were a number of unoccupied seats scattered throughout the school hall.
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