Five Pakatan Harapan candidates in Greater Johor Bahru focus on family welfare with plans for senior communities and workplace childcare centres.
JOHOR BAHRU: Five Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidates contesting state seats in the Greater Johor Bahru zone have put family welfare at the centre of their campaign in the upcoming Johor state election.
The candidates for the Tiram, Skudai, Stulang, Perling and Johor Jaya state seats said their proposal to develop age-friendly communities and improve access to childcare centres serves the dual purpose of easing the pressures faced by young working families in the city.
Skudai state seat candidate J. Kartiyaini said the increasingly ageing population called for a comprehensive intervention plan, noting that senior citizens now account for nearly 30% of the population in densely populated areas such as Skudai and Perling.
“If PH forms the Johor government, our commitment is to build communities where senior citizens can live comfortably, with dignity, and receive better care.
“At the same time, we also want to ensure that families who are unable to care for their elderly relatives throughout the day can go to work or pursue their studies with greater peace of mind,” she said at a press conference today.
Also present at the press conference were Andrew Chen Kah Eng (Stulang state seat), Lee Wern Yiing (Johor Jaya state seat), Alan Tee Boon Tsong (Perling state seat) and Nor Zulaila Abd Ghani (Tiram state seat), who are all contesting under the PH banner.
Kartiyaini said that to realise the initiative, PH has pledged to upgrade public infrastructure, strengthen coordination among welfare agencies, and enhance the role of senior citizen activity centres (PAWE) through more competitive budget allocations from the state government.
Meanwhile, Nor Zulaila, who is better known as Lily, said a comprehensive family support ecosystem could only be achieved if childcare was given priority, noting that Johor is home to more than one million children who require access to safe and quality care.
“One of our commitments to the people of Johor is to increase the number of childcare centres located close to workplaces.
“If childcare centres and nurseries are available near places of work, it will certainly help ease the burden on parents when dropping off and picking up their children,” she said.
Besides domestic welfare, the PH candidates contesting in the Greater Johor Bahru zone have also identified improvements to the public transport system, flash flood management, and smoother cross-border traffic flow as key priorities.
The candidates stressed that these commitments would be pursued collectively as a united team by leveraging close coordination between the state and federal governments.
In the Johor state election, PH is fielding candidates in all 56 state assembly seats, comprising 20 candidates from PKR, 19 from Amanah and 17 from DAP.
A total of 172 candidates are contesting 56 state assembly seats. Early voting will take place tomorrow (July 7), while polling is scheduled for July 11.
For the latest news on the 16th Johor state election, visit https://prn.bernama.com/johor/.
