JOHOR BARU: A special aide to the Tebrau MP is expected to be sacked by Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) after he went against the party’s wishes to contest in the Johor polls as an independent candidate.

       Steven Choong Shiau Yoo (pic), said he initially proposed his special officer of four years J. Shangkar as a candidate for the Puteri Wangsa state seat.

       However, the party decided that Choong is a better fit to contest in Puteri Wangsa as it is a state seat under the Tebrau parliamentary constituency.

       “The party’s leaders felt that PBM is still a new party and me, being the Johor chief, should lead the charge in the state polls. I relayed the message to Shangkar. He was disappointed and unable to accept it," said Choong, who is the Johor PBM chief.

       “I am not surprised that he still went ahead with it as he told me he already raised his deposit and had enough supporters to run on his own," he added.

       Choong then said that he made it clear to Shangkar that he would be sacked if he were to run without the party's blessing.

       He said this when speaking to the media after submitting his nomination papers for the Puteri Wangsa candidacy here on Saturday (Feb 26).

       Shangkar - who is also a PBM national committee member - showed up at the Tiram state seat nomination centre at 9.20am on Saturday morning and successfully submitted his nomination form.

       Tiram is also a state seat under the Tebrau parliamentary constituency.

       Choong added that Shangkar did not put his party first and added that he should always comply with the party’s wishes as a member.

       Shangkar has been Choong’s aide since before 2018 and helped him campaign during the 14th General Election when he was in PKR.

       After Choong quit PKR in Feb 2021, Shangkar remained in the party and later joined PBM with the MP.