State polls: Voters highlight water woes, low wages among major issues in S'gor

SHAH ALAM - Despite Pakatan Harapan being in power for 15 years, water woes, transportation issues and low wages were among the major issues faced by people in Selangor.

With only 23 days until the Selangor State Legislative Assembly dissolves, as announced by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, the PH government will face an uphill battle convincing prospective voters in the upcoming state elections.

Suraya Mansor, a 35-year-old resident of Selangor, hoped that water issues would be on the main agenda of the state polls.

"We are in 2023 now, despite the fact that Selangor has been facing too many water woes. In fact, this problem happens every year without fail. We have just had enough," Suraya told Sinar Daily.

Suraya, who is also a takaful consultant, also hoped for the state government to constantly work towards improving the living conditions in Selangor.

An IPTA student in Shah Alam, Kirthiga Tamilarasan, 21, said her friends and she always had problems getting public transportation around Selangor.

"As students, we need to wait for long hours and spend a lot of money to go to one place.

"We just want to go to the LRT station or KTM station, but we need to spend a lot of money, almost RM 20. I hope things can improve after the state polls," she stressed.

Fatin Natasya, 28, also asked for the Selangor government to focus on youths, specifically in terms of salary.

"Currently, everything is expensive. Youth need to pay for utilities and bills. In fact, the basic needs now are so expensive," she added, who is also a health accessibility coordinator.

In order for the state government to win the hearts of Selangorians again, instead of youngsters, Fatin further added that they should focus on the bottom 40 (B40) group because they make up a huge part of Selangor.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Iskandar, 44, expressed his gratitude to the current state government, saying that they have done a great job for the rakyat in Selangor.

"There are a lot of benefits that the state government has done for Selangorians.

"I fall in the B40 category, so my hope is that whichever party or coalition is elected to be a state government, it will need to take care of the rakyat’s welfare and continue doing the great job that they have been doing for the past few years." However, Mohamed, who is based in Sungai Buloh, expressed his concern that no matter who the coalition party is that will lead Selangor, they should not mix politics with the welfare of the rakyat.

"I hope that they are sincere in protecting and preserving the rakyat’s wellbeing," he said.

Amirudin was earlier reported as saying that if no announcement of dissolution is made, it will be automatically dissolved on June 25, after the end of the term.

"This means we can only postpone it for 23 days from today. After that date, it will definitely be dissolved," he said.

However, he said the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah needs to grant consent for the exact date of dissolution.