ALOR STAR: From being the first Siamese community elected representative, Pakatan Harapan Sidam assemblyman, Bau Wong Bau Ek is now the Kedah state legislative assembly's first non-Malay opposition leader.
The 56-year-old first term assemblyman acknowledged the pressure of leading a three-man opposition team in his debut into state assembly, but vowed to do his best to keep the check-and-balance duties alive.
"Yes, for sure there is a pressure being the first non-Malay opposition leader in Kedah state assembly but our team of three assemblymen will try our best to perform the check-and-balance duty.
"We hope that whatever is being debated in the state assembly will bring benefit to the people in the state," he said on the sidelines of the state assembly held in Wisma Darul Aman today.
Earlier today, Kedah state assembly speaker Zubir Ahmad announced Bau Wong's appointment as the state opposition leader to succeed former Suka Menanti assemblyman Datuk Zamri Yusuf.
Bau Wong, from PKR is one of only three PH candidates who survived Perikatan Nasional landslide victory in 15th State Election held in August, which saw the coalition winning 33 out of the 36 seats up for grabs.
The other two PH lawmakers in the new state assembly's term are DAP Kota Darul Aman two-term assemblyman Teh Swee Leong and first-term PKR Bakar Arang assemblyman Adam Loh Wei Chai.
PH's seats in Kedah were reduced from 13 in the previous election to just three while Barisan Nasional was totally wiped out after Umno failed to retain the only two seats it held prior to the state assembly dissolution.
Commenting further, Bau Wong said the opposition assemblymen would be representing the voice of all Kedahans, despite acknowledging some limitations to debate on matters concerning the Malay community and Islamic religion.
"To be an effective opposition, we will have to equip ourselves with facts to present a quality debate," said the former special officer to the then Sungai Petani member of Parliament Tan Sri Johari Abdul.
His sentiment was echoed by Loh, who expressed confidence that the voice of the opposition lawmakers would be silenced despite being heavily outnumbered in the state assembly.
"To me, this is a huge responsibility because I am carrying the voice of 57,000 voters in Bakar Arang which represent a mixed demographic of Malays and non-Malays.
"We will carry out our responsibility professionally with full integrity. I am confident that our voice will not be silent despite being outnumbered.
"Perlis only has one opposition assemblyman and in Kedah we are grateful that we still have three lawmakers on the opposition bench," he said.
Meanwhile, Teh said the trio were not deterred to soldier on despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered.
"It is not an issue for us, we will still debate on matters concerning the people's wellbeing despite being left with just three.
"We still have the platform to debate on matters of importance to the people and at the same time strengthen the cooperation between the federal government and the state administration," he said.