Batu Lintang candidate, Sih Hua Tong always on the ground

suppadmin | December 10, 2021

SUPP Batu Lintang (N11) candidate, Sih Hua Tong spent his last three hours attending to the well-being of a handicap although, no one knew that he had gone to the man’s house numerous times to see that his needs were taken care of and that he had been going to and fro to the Welfare department to help him apply for welfare aid.

As the man’s son was out at work, Hua Tong bought him the necessities that he needed for the day.

This is what Hua Tong calls it, his daily job. Walking the ground seven days a week to assist and render service to whoever needs it without complaint, rain or shine. There was no fanfare, no flashing of camera lights but just him and at times his assistant who attended to the never-ending service work, some which were tedious and time consuming.

Finding time to get him to talk is considered ‘priceless’ as with the election gongs beating away, Hua Tong’s time is packed from morning till late at night, from his own political meetings, to attending to his constituency and to campaigning online.

A simple humble man, that is what his friends said of him. He is always laughing, smiling and greeting even strangers. Even with heavy heart at times, Hua Tong will give you a smile he thinks everyone deserves. Hua Tong said a smile sends a strong positive message. When you smile at a person who is down, he will naturally try to smile back. That will lift his spirits up immediately, he said.

Hua Tong is no stranger to hard work, to slogging on the ground. Although publicity-shy, he documented his works in photos. Todate he has thousands of photos on his computer. His WhatsApp has 6,840 contacts, majority from the people he helped.

“I feel bad that all not my cases are successful. But, I always told myself that I have done my best. And the person who came to me for help knew that and that is good enough,” he said.

Graduated from University Malaya with. Sc. (Hons) in Physics, Hua Tong joined SUPP Batu Lintang in 1993 and in 2008, he was elected Youth Chairman in 1993. He then made a hard decision to go full time into politics.

Knowing Batu Lintang like the back of his hands, Hua Tong was defeated twice, the first time being a newbie and the second round, he was caught in the “winds of change”.

“There is an estimate of 29,689 voters in Batu Lintang, out of which 85 percent are Chinese, the rest Bumi and Indians. There are 100,000 inhabitants in Batu Lintang constituency and I must say, the majority are middle class people. Many just want a peaceful environment, with good infrastructure, security and a quality lifestyle. And yes, there are many whose wants are just getting the food on the table. There are a number of poor residents in this area too and they are the one who would need extra care and services. There are endless applications to help them file in, socso, welfare, BKKS, applications, etc… .

Appealing to the Batu Lintang voters to give him a chance, Hua Tong said, “You all have seen the state of this area since the Opposition took over. Problems remain unresolved, the drainage, the flash flood issues. I have only a small platform which I tried my best to assist in ways I can. Give me this chance to bring your problems into DUN and let me resolve the major issues facing us here. I can assure I will persistently fight for change. As many of you have known me, I have always fought for your cases, big or small, with passion. Many times, I have solved your problems, and there were times when I was not successful but you all, at least have contentment in your hearts because as I always told you in the beginning, “we try” even though some problems were impossible to solve.

For the people whose lives he touched, Hua Tong said strangers become friends. Thus, he said he lives a ‘rich’ life full of friends surrounding him. There were many who came to look for him to thank him once their cases were successful and there were others who came to thank him for trying his best for them despite the failures.

For his routine, Hua Tong spends 10 to 12 hours daily from Monday to Sunday rendering his service. There are nights he would return back late and continue to work until the wee hours of the morning. “There are times when I do wake up late as I ponder on how to solve the issues given to me,” he said.

When asked on how his family takes it, Hua Tong said he was so thankful to have an understanding wife and a daughter and son who gave encouragement and support to him although at times, when they were younger, they could not understand why he was always working. Hua Tong said as his children, both lawyers, are grown up, they tried to help him this round in his campaign by sorting out the photos.

He returned back one night last week at 10 pm to find his daughter sitting outside the house waiting for him. He said he was taken aback as it was something she has never done and thought she might have a problem she wanted to discuss with him.

What his daughter had to say warmed his heart. She told him that she understood why her birthdays and her brother’s birthdays were postponed in the past, why the parents/teacher’s meet was always their mother turning up, why a family picnic was cancelled at a last minute and why dinner plans evaporated in the air with him not attending or cancelled. Her daughter said that she knew now as she went through all the dates of the photographs he had documented that he was helping the people out there.

Wiping his tears, Hua Tong said, it was a relief that his family has always stood by him as he rarely explained it to his children back then. They were too young and they were already upset.

On his main opponent, Hua Tong believed that voters in Batu Lintang are smart enough to see how under-developed Batu Lintang is all these years and how politicians these days like to ‘jump’ for greener pastures.

Hua Tong will be facing four others this coming election.

A voter in Batu Lintang, Thomas stated, Hua Tong has always been around through thick and thin with us. Give him the mandate this round to prove what he can do for us. It’s five years only!