CALONKINI | DAP’s latest recruit Johnson Chew Chong Sin envisions a future where Johoreans will no longer need to leave their families behind and trek across the Causeway just to earn a living.

Should he win a state seat in the 14th general election, the entrepreneur wants to work with the government on generating better economic opportunities in the southern state.

“This is so that many more families will be able to reunite with one another. The government is responsible for providing these opportunities for the people.

“The majority of them work in Singapore for the sake of the next generation. They travel every day, leaving their children and elderly parents behind.

“They just want to have a good future, they just want a good life,” he tells Malaysiakini in an interview, overcome by equal parts of emotion and conviction.

Yesterday, Chew’s entry into the Pakatan Harapan component party was marked with much fanfare, with introductions by party heavyweights, Lim Guan Eng and Liew Chin Tong.

He is speculated to be fielded in a state seat in Kluang, where he hails from.

Chew reminisces how, as a child, he would help out at his parents’ hawker shop selling fruits and snacks before returning to their wooden squatter house in the Chinese-majority town.

His sister and he would go on to be the only two among his neighbours to receive a tertiary education...