While the final decision on who will contest the seat lies with PKR, the party he is representing, Cheah said communication between him and the party leadership indicates status quo.
“As far as I know, there is no change. I have been asked by the party to proceed with work in the Kebun Bunga constituency.
“We have already prepared our election machinery, and I have received quite a good response from the constituents.
“I am ready to defend the Kebun Bunga state seat, if the party entrusts me with it,” Cheah told FMT yesterday.
He was asked how he viewed his chances of winning the Kebun Bunga seat again, should he be nominated as a candidate.
He was in the midst of a Thaipusam walkabout in his constituency, during which he and his team distributed some 5,000 packets of vegetarian food to devotees in the area.
In the 2013 general election, Cheah defeated Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Hng Chee Wey by a whopping 9,030-vote majority, effectively defending the seat for PKR.
Before that, Jason Ong Khan Lee had won the seat for the party, beating then-incumbent, BN’s Quah Kooi Heong, in 2008.
Recently, there has been speculation that Cheah would be dropped as a candidate, as he has been critical of certain policies by the state government.
Cheah was one of five PKR assembly members who abstained from a state assembly vote on an Umno motion to stop all reclamation works in the state two years ago.
Last November, he was barred from handing out the RM700 flood aid, with some reports saying this was due to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s strained relations with the infamous “PKR 5”.
The PKR 5 comprise Cheah, Ong Chin Wen (Bukit Tengah), Norela Ariffin (Penanti), Dr T Jayabalan (Batu Uban) and Lee Khai Loon (Machang Bubuk).
‘No bad blood with state government’
Following rumours that he may be dropped as a candidate, Cheah said many who had worked with him before, members of NGOs and constituents, had approached him and asked him to continue serving Kebun Bunga constituents.
“So many people came to me and asked me to stay on, to continue serving Kebun Bunga constituents.
“They asked me what transpired, when I had been doing my job and yet people were criticising me.
“I was moved and touched by their actions,” he said.
But in spite of the issues he has had with the state government, Cheah says there is no bad blood between them.
“I have been working all the way to support the Pakatan Harapan state government. I have been promoting the Penang government, on my Facebook, in my statements, among others,” he said.
Cheah said what had taken place was only differences in views on certain political policies and issues, which were confined to the state legislative assembly.
“There is no conflict with the state government. We do not just come out and criticise somebody.
“As backbenchers, it is our duty to question some policies, such as why the Penang Botanic Gardens has to be corporatised, and why the Feasibility Studies and Detailed Design (FSDD) has to cost RM305 million,” he said, referring to the FSDD for the proposed undersea tunnel and three main roads project.
Facing up to his opponent from BN
While BN has yet to determine who it will field in the coming election, odds are that the candidate will be Ooi Zhi Yi from Gerakan.
But regardless of who he will face , Cheah said it was important to respect the opposition.
“One has to be really respectful to the opposition. All the candidates in the democratic process. Their views must be heard. If it is not attractive, voters will not vote for them.
“At the end of the day, it is a competition of policies, as in who can give the best in a democracy.
“Whoever BN places in Kebun Bunga, I am ready to face him or her,” he said.
Kebun Bunga constituency fact box
The Kebun Bunga state seat, which was created in 1986, comprises the polling districts of Fettes Park, Ladang Hong Seng, the Penang Botanic Gardens, Quarry Drive, Jalan Batu Gantong, Jalan Padang Tembak and the Rifle Range flats.
As of 2016, the number of registered voters in the state seat stood at 21,064.
Kebun Bunga is the only PKR-held seat of the four state seats under the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency. DAP’s Zairil Khir Johari is Bukit Bendera MP.
Guan Eng confirms PKR assemblyman barred from giving out flood aid