PUTRAJAYA, Nov 5 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Noraishah Mydin Abdul-Aziz today expressed her satisfaction at being listed second on the ballot paper for the Putrajaya federal race in the 15th general election.
Noraishah Mydin’s name was listed after incumbent Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, a former Federal Territories minister from Umno who held Putrajaya for Barisan Nasional (BN) for four terms since the 2004 general election.
“Earlier, in the nomination room, when we took the numbers, indeed I prayed in my heart, I said ‘I want second place. I want second place’,” Noraishah Mydin, who was fielded by PKR, told her supporters after nominations.
“There is a reason why I wanted second place, and I got second place. Indeed, my prayer was answered when the first place went to Tengku Adnan because I really want second place – because my name is the longest – Noraishah Mydin binti Haji Abdul-Aziz.
“I also want to show, thank God, second place in that position because I’m different from everyone else. Why am I different? Because I’m sincere. I started all this for children like me. But I represent, here in Putrajaya, I represent you all!” declared the scientist, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair.
According to Noraishah, she used her full name because of her late father, whom she had not had the chance to know. Her father, who died when she was two, was the first chief librarian at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
“I represent all of you because I become a voice and a driving force to sincerely solve all the problems of Malaysians,” said the former researcher from Universiti Malaya’s medical faculty.
“That is what needs to be done now, solving our problems as people. We have long faced various challenges,various problems and we have lost many Malaysian citizens to Covid-19 and so on. Additionally, monsoon season, floods, and exaggeration.
“These are all valid problems. Our youth are still experiencing real problems with the lack of maintenance of infrastructure. Every place, every building is lacking.”
Although Noraishah found the staff at the nomination centre at Sekolah Presint 9(1) to be very helpful and accommodating by providing her with ramps and such, she found the building itself to be lacking.
During the hours she was in there, Noraishah was unable to use the bathroom as the door was too small and she could not fit her wheelchair through it.
“I think the staff at the nomination centre — they did a great job. I think they worked really hard to ensure that there were ramps, et cetera, kind of things. And these were great! People were all there; it is fantastic!” Noraishah said.
“But, of course, the things that are neglected are the things that people use every single day. So, as I mentioned just now, the amenities — the toilet — was just definitely not accessible for me because the door was too small and there was a step.
“That is what I mean by maintenance and infrastructure. It has to go hand in hand. If you build something, you have to be able to maintain it…So where did we go wrong here? Why is it that those amenities are available but you can’t use them?”
When commenting on the accessibility of polling stations, Noraishah said she should just go around “like anybody else because this is the best way to see the reality.”
Putrajaya, the federal government’s administrative district, will be contested by six candidates for the November 19 poll: Noraishah, Tengku Adnan, former Education Minister Radzi Jidin (Perikatan Nasional-Bersatu), Mohd Rosli Ramli (Gerakan Tanah Air-Berjasa), Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi (independent), and Lim Fice Bee (independent).
