Dr Solehin says brother Dr Akmal opens doors on Bemban campaign trail

JASIN: Bersama's Bemban candidate Dr Solehin Saleh said his younger brother, Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, had helped him engage rural Malay voters.

Dr Solehin said being Dr Akmal's elder brother had opened doors during the campaign, particularly when meeting rural and elderly Malay voters.

He said he did not actively use his brother's popularity, but their family connection served as an icebreaker.

"There is no denying that Dr Akmal has huge influence, especially among the Malays," he said.

"People naturally recognise the family connection and say, 'Oh, you are Dr Akmal's brother'.

"You cannot deny blood ties, but it isn't a calculated move," he said.

Asked how his political identity differed from his outspoken brother's, Dr Solehin said their ideological approaches were "night and day". However, he said there was "zero animosity" between them despite their opposing political affiliations.

"We grew up in an Umno family, but in our house, there is a strict golden rule left behind by my late father — leave politics outside the front door.

"I have breakfast with Dr Akmal every single morning. We live together as a family to take care of our mother since my father passed away.

"We talk about his fish pond, my pygmy goats, and family matters. Never politics.

"Dr Akmal is seen as fierce and firm. I am more relaxed and moderate. He plays to his political base, but I am in the centre," he said.

"As a doctor, when patients come to see me, I don't see them as Malay, Chinese, or Indian. They share the same health and financial struggles.

"That moderate, colour-blind perspective is what I bring into politics," he said.

Dr Solehin had also made healthcare and eldercare central to his campaign, pledging to replicate his low-cost 'Ambulans Marhaen' grassroots initiative and provide home medical visits without consultation fees in Bemban.

He said an estimated 25 per cent of the constituency's population comprised senior citizens or people approaching old age, many living alone while their adult children worked elsewhere.

He said operational constraints remained a challenge, but maintained that affordable primary care was a public necessity.

"When we go to the ground and visit the villages, we encounter bedridden and elderly patients who urgently need follow-up hospital visits or house-call treatments, but their families simply cannot afford private transport," he said.

"Whether as an assemblyman or through our existing healthcare teams, this is a welfare commitment we are already doing and will continue to bring to the people of Bemban," he said.