Loke, who is seeking to represent the constituency for a third term, said he was well acquainted with Perikatan Nasional’s Rosmadi Arif, who was appointed the village chief of Kampung Chennah in 2018.

“Throughout the past five years, we’ve worked well together in terms of managing the village.

“He would let me know about any needs in the village and, as the assemblyman, I will distribute the necessary allocation, especially during the major floods in Jelebu (in December 2021) where Kampung Chennah was the worst affected,” he told reporters here.

Loke, who is also transport minister, said he decided to retain Rosmadi as the village chief despite Bersatu quitting Pakatan Harapan in February 2020, resulting in many village chiefs from Bersatu being terminated from their posts by the state government.

He said the decision was made purely on merit as he was satisfied with Rosmadi’s performance as village chief.

“I informed the menteri besar (Aminuddin Harun) that I wanted to keep Rosmadi because I believed he had carried out his duties as village chief well even though he was from another party.”

Loke first won the Chennah seat in 2013 and defended the seat in the 14th general election (GE14) by defeating Barisan Nasional’s Seet Tee Gee and PAS’ Jamalus Mansor with a 1,155-vote majority.

The Seremban MP said he would not undermine his opponent but would allow his track record in Chennah to be evaluated by the voters.