JOHOR BARU, Sept 10 — Just a day after winning the Pulai parliamentary seat in a by-election, Suhaizan Kaiat has already received more than 30 requests for help from his constituents.

He said they mostly involved infrastructure needs, especially involving housing issues, in addition to women and youth wanting various programmes to be held in the area.

The former Johor state assembly speaker said that as the people’s representative, he would try to fulfill all the requests in the area.

"So far, there are more than 30 requests received, that is what has been recorded. Some have also mentioned their requests to my representative. We will study them. Now that we are at the end of the year, it is also a challenge for us to manage them.

"Members of Parliament are appointed by the voters and will serve the people, which means all Malaysians are entitled to it, even if they are not supporters (of the winning candidate), we should all help them as best as possible,” he told reporters while attending the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-Barisan Nasional (BN) thanksgiving ceremony at the Taman Bukit Indah Public Hall here today.

When speaking at the event, Suhaizan, who is also the vice chairman of Johor Amanah, said he had learned a lot from the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub from the time they were in PAS, and was also appointed as a political secretary to the latter.

"He gave me much guidance in the politics of Johor and the country. Salahuddin always said that he wanted his officers, including me, to be like him, so we tried to fulfil his requests such as taking care of the needs of the community and having a moderate political approach,” he said.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin’s eldest son, Iskandar Zulkarnain, 37, who was also present at the event said he believed Suhaizan could continue his father’s legacy, as he was one of Salahuddin’s protégés in the world of politics.

"My father was really close to Suhaizan, their relationship was more or less like a mentor and protégé. I admit that it is impossible to find the exact individual, but at least what my father taught is in him.

"Therefore, he can use those teachings as a guide, the personal angle may not be the same but God willing, in matters of work he can continue my father’s legacy as a Member of Parliament as best he can,” he said.

In yesterday’s by-election, Suhaizan won with a majority of 18,641 votes defeating Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Zulkifli Jaafar and Independent candidate Samsudin Mohamad Fauzi.

The by-election for the Pulai parliamentary seat and the Simpang Jeram state assembly seat was held following the death of the incumbent, Salahuddin — who was also the minister of domestic trade and cost of living — on July 23. — Bernama