JOHOR BARU: Former three-term Pulai member of parliament (MP) Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed believes people still have faith in him to continue the mission of wresting back the federal seat from Pakatan Harapan (PH).
The former deputy home minister believes his track record over the years since 2004 have shown his accomplishment for the people of this constituency.
The seat was held by his late father Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, the former information minister, in the 1980s and 1990s.
"Pakatan Harapan (PH) has done no service to the people of their constituency ever since they were elected.
"You look at the representatives of the places where PH has won and you can see there has been no service at all," he said.
He said this to the New Straits Times at his office in Dewan Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat in Tampoi.
Nur Jazlan said his track record shows his contribution to public housing, including the PPR (People's Housing Project) in Kempas and Perling.
"Most of the people who were living in the squatter area in Kempas and Perling were also given better housing," he said.
"I will try my best to restore the voters' trust and confidence towards Umno and Barisan Nasional.
"I will also continue devoting my services to the people of Pulai, without the boundaries of race and religion," he said.
The Pulai parliamentary constituency is an urban south Johor seat bordering Singapore, as well as the Johor Baru and Iskandar Puteri parliamentary seats.
It is a Malay majority seat, making up 45 per cent of voters. The Chinese make up 40 per cent, followed by the Indian voters at 12 per cent and other races at three per cent.
The former Pulai MP said after nearly four years under a PH MP, voters, especially Chinese businessmen, realised that only BN could bring socio-economic stability to the constituency and Johor.
He said the PH government had also punished economic-friendly projects that came from BN's time with no economical basis or thoughts about the consequences.
"All the while when BN was in power, all races were treated within their rights according to the Constitution," he said.
Nur Jazlan also believes that the inflationary impact all are facing today is only temporary.
"The prices will come down to an equilibrium as it is a phenomenon faced by all countries in the world," said the Pulai Umno division chief.
Touching on voter turnout for GE15, he said he does not expect a high voter turnout because of the missing election fever as well as the people seemingly uninterested.
"The people are more concerned with inputs that we can offer on social media and the election fatigue which Johor had only eight months ago is not helping," he lamented.
On his chances in the GE15, he said: "I am only a challenger and (Datuk Seri) Salahuddin Ayub is the incumbent. But his problem is people will judge him on his track record and on all his services rendered."
The outspoken Umno leader said he has been moving around meeting, seeing and speaking with people, and many had expressed that they want him to return.
"This goes to show that people of Pulai still have faith in BN and know that it's only we (BN) who can deliver," he said.
He said BN provided political stability and for 50 years the people's need had been taken care of always, adding that "BN has its track record".
He also lamented the fact that Perikatan Nasional would split the votes, but they could never form the next government.
"In the two state elections, they only split the votes and never had enough seats to form the government, so what's the point of voting for them?" he asked.
Going into the future with a fragmented political situation, he said there was no way a government could perform as well as BN because there was no political strength and will.
He pledged to continue his work since 2004 to develop Pulai if he wins, and also to defend the people's welfare that stalled after 2018 under the then PH administration.
"I hope they (the voters) won't get swayed by emotional politics or racial politics by other parties," the 56-year-old politician added.
In GE 15, Nur Jazlan will be challenging Loh Kah Yong of Perikatan Nasional and Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub of Pakatan Harapan. The Pulai constituency has 165,313 registered voters.
