Candidate vs party

"I will meet Tan (Seng Giaw) to get acquainted with his contacts and grassroots." 

Those were the words of two-term Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng who will be contesting in Kepong in the 14th General Elections, as reported by The Star.

His DAP colleague Hannah Yeoh, who is Subang Jaya assemblyman, will contest in Segambut. Winning the Kepong seat will make Hannah an MP - elevating her political standing.

Her response to the switch, as seen in The Star article:

“It’s an urban area, so there are similar concerns about safety, infrastructure, and quality of education,” she said, adding that the constituents knew their rights, have critical thinking and want access to right information.

And here's what a Segambut resident had to say:

"It's come to a point where I no longer care who contests, Hannah or the BN candidate. Because I know Segambut is messed up due to over-development and these people won't do anything."

It is without doubt the learned strategists in DAP had calculated the moves prior to the announcement.

The decision, however, came at the expense of Dr Tan Seng Giaw. The eight-term Kepong MP has been dropped from the list despite many believing he would still win the seat. Seng Giaw is rumoured to have fallen out of favour with the party leadership following his criticism of environmental issues in Penang, as reported here.

Following the announcement, is it safe to say:

- urbanites are not really perturbed over who represents them as long as he or she represents a particular party?
- urbanites are mainly concerened about national or federal issues instead of local issues?
- urbanites will vote for Pakatan Harapan (PH) due to their 'hatred' towards the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), instead of accepting or agreeing with PH's policies?

Such a move perhaps will not work in the outskirts as rural folk believe in a familiar face - one who would be there for every gotong royong, sukaneka and festive season.

They are extremely bothered about localised issues and will support the candidate who has been actively involved with their community. As such, ousted Umno man turned Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal will have little problems retaining his Semporna seat.

Seng Giaw and another DAP man Tan Kok Wai (Cheras) are among the handful of politicians who have earned the respect and admiration of the people and their fellow peers, regardless of affiliation.

As such, are you voting:
- for a candidate based on his/her work, ethics?
- for a candidate from a party whose ideologies you agree?
- just to get rid of the other opposing party(ies)?