Ah Sam to focus on Felda third generation issues

ALOR GAJAH, Nov 14 -- The demand for land lots for the construction of houses for Felda third generation will be among the focus of Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Machap Jaya state seat, Ngwe Hee Sem in the Melaka state election on Nov 20.

He said several people among the group have applied to build their own house, especially after they got married.

"Currently, most of the Felda third generation are living with their second generation families and some are still living with the first generation.

"Therefore, solving the housing woes of this group will be one of the areas I will focus on if given the mandate by the people in this election, apart from planning to build low and medium-cost houses for the residents in this area," he said when met here.

Ngwe, 53, fondly known as Ah Sam, said he would also create small and medium industries (SMIs) in every village in the state constituency as the move will help to develop Machap Jaya, which is situated some 17 kilometres ( km) from Alor Gajah town.

He said Machap Jaya is not suitable to be turned into a heavy industrial area as it is one of the rain catchment areas in Melaka, but had great potential for economic activities based on ecotourism.

"In Hutan Percha there is a restaurant selling ‘ayam percik’ which is a favourite of the Prime Minister apart from the Tongkat Simpang Bekoh Biscuit Factory which is popular among the local community.

"Machap Jaya also has seven Orang Asli villages and if the Orang Asli people are helped to produce handicrafts, it can be a catalyst for the SME industry in this area," said the father of two.

Among the Orang Asli villages in Machap Jaya are Kampung Bukit Putus, Kampung Machap Umboo, Kampung Machap Umboo Dalam, Kampung Tebong Stesen, Kampung Kubang Badak, Kampung Air Dusun and Kampung Hutan Percha.

To meet the needs of Muslims in Machap Jaya as well, Ngwe said he would seek assistance from the state and federal governments to build a new mosque in the area.

He said the seven mosques in the area could not accommodate the number of Muslims, especially to perform Friday, Aidilfitri and Aidiladha prayers.

"I will also work to build a wet market in Kampung Baru Machap Baru where the majority of the population is Chinese. This is the largest village for the Chinese community in the state.

Sold by the idea of free online tuition recommended by the Alor Gajah UMNO Youth division when several movement restrictions were imposed starting last year, Ngwe said he would continue with the agenda to help students in the area.

“This way, students don’t have to go out of the house which can put them at risk of COVID-19, and it only takes a few teachers to teach online.

"The advantage of this programme is that we only need to pay teachers to teach but the number of students is unlimited. In the past, parents had to send their children to tuition centes and had to pay teachers, but through this programme it is free. It can help the less fortunate," he said.

Machap Jaya constituency has about 22,000 residents with 12,487 registered voters.

There are six Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK), two Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) two Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC), three Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) and seven Sekolah Rendah Agama (SRA), seven mosques, 11 surau, six hindu temples, four buddhist temples and a church.

Ngwe is among the seven candidates fielded by MCA in the state election this time and he will face a five-cornered contest against Law Bing Haw (Pakatan Harapan), Azlan Daud (Independent), Tai Siong Jiul (Perikatan Nasional) and Abdul Aziz Osani Kasim (Iman)

The Machap Jaya state seat was previously held by Datuk Ginie Lim Siew Lin of Pakatan Harapan after winning with a majority of 1,336 votes in the 14th General Election (GE14).

The EC has set the voting date for the Melaka state election on Nov 20 and early voting on Nov 16, following the dissolution of the state assembly on Oct 4 after four state assemblymen withdrew support for the Chief Minister.

-- BERNAMA