<figure id="attachment_3031773" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3031773" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3031773" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/93073d55-zahir-hassan-emel-pic-110425.webp" alt="Zahir Hassan" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3031773" class="wp-caption-text">Zahir Hassan (centre) said aid for his constituents in Wangsa Maju, currently led by Lai Chen Heng, has not been satisfactory. He is flanked by running mates Falora Ambi, who is gunning for the post of division women&#8217;s chief, and Abel Yap, who will be contesting for the youth chief&#8217;s post.</figcaption></figure>
KUALA LUMPUR: Discord between his parliamentary office and the local PKR division has driven Wangsa Maju MP Zahir Hassan to contest for the post of Wangsa Maju PKR chief in the party elections this year.
The first-term MP said the lack of coordination between his office and division chief Lai Chen Heng had led to delays and even failure in delivering aid to his constituents.
Zahir, who is currently the Titiwangsa PKR chief, said this has prevented him from serving the people of Wangsa Maju as best as he could, prompting his candidacy.
&#8220;It is my responsibility to ensure that such obstructions are reduced or done away with as a whole.
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&#8220;Therefore, I believe it is right for me to switch divisions and contest in Wangsa Maju, so that the division chief and MP would be the same person,&#8221; he told FMT.
Zahir has led PKR&#8217;s Titiwangsa division since 2015. In the 2022 party polls, he won a spot on PKR&#8217;s central leadership council and was made chief organising secretary.
This year, Lai hopes to defend his Wangsa Maju PKR chief&#8217;s post from challengers Zahir and Abdullah Talip, who is from the Otai Reformis 98 group.
Zahir pledged to ensure the transparent management of the division&#8217;s funds while uniting members and strengthening its grassroots.
The division had been marred by controversy last month after information in its financial statements was allegedly manipulated. A special meeting held to approve the resubmission of the statements ended abruptly following claims the meeting was held irregularly.
Zahir said his immediate step should he become the next Wangsa Maju PKR chief would be to set up a bank account for the division to ensure financial transparency.
&#8220;During the previous general meeting, I questioned why the division did not have its own bank account to manage its finances. PKR&#8217;s constitution requires each division to have their own bank accounts,&#8221; he said.

MatchPoint Times

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