'NFC Datuk fixit' wants to fix Bukit Bintang

He became a controversial name after being arrested and charged over his involvement in the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) cattle project as a ‘consultant’.

But 47-year-old Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail, called ‘Datuk fixit’ at one point by the media, now wants to contest in the 13th General Election. He has set his eyes to go into the Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat as an independent candidate.

And while many may consider it a joke, including his own family members, Shamsubahrin expressed that he was serious about his foray into politics, something he always wanted to do since his younger years.

Bukit Bintang (P120) is said to be located in the “heart of KL” and used to be called the Kuala Lumpur Bandar seat. It is considered a traditional DAP stronghold since 1978 and only had one BN MP in the 1995 elections (Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng).

The incumbent, DAP veteran Fong Kui Lun has held the seat, since 1999. There are 55,887 voters consisting of 73% Chinese, 14% Malays and 11% Indians.

Speaking to Astro Awani after he was spotted at the Election Commission offices collecting his nomination papers on Monday, Shamsubahrin said: “I decided to come into politics after what happened to me in the NFC case.”

The businessman, who owns a taxi service in KLCC and is involved in various consulting jobs, stressed that he was not here in an act of revenge and was also not here to spoil votes. He claimed to be sincere in trying to bring up Kuala Lumpur and even went as far as saying he aims to be the next mayor for the city.

The father of five children said that he felt that DAP has not done much for Bukit Bintang despite holding the seat for about half a century.

“I will give a good fight to both MCA and DAP. Why I choose that area is because for more than 50 years the area has been managed and controlled by DAP and they have been too comfortable there in every election. They sit down, eat, drink eat, wear tie, go parliament, go home and sleep, they’ve done nothing,” he said.

Shamsubahrin also said that he felt that he has a good chance as he has “a lot of supporters” in the area.

Asked about his ‘Datuk fixit’ nickname, Shamsubahrin laughed it off, saying: “I’m not Datuk fix-it, I don’t fix people up. Perhaps it’s more apt to say someone fixed me up. Let them talk what they want to talk, I only fix to solve the problems professionally.”