[UPDATED] Sg Pelek rep Ronnie Liu says he will quit DAP

KLANG – DAP veteran Ronnie Liu, formerly a Selangor executive councillor, today made known his intention to leave the party soon.

The Sg Pelek assemblyman reasoned that he was compelled to make the decision as he had no option, according to a report by The Star.

“I have to as I have no choice,” Liu was quoted as saying this evening.

However, he declined to reveal to the newspaper exactly when he will be resigning from the party.

“I will be quitting the party soon and will be issuing a statement about it,” he said.

Liu has had a number of run-ins with his party colleagues in the recent past.

In November last year he had lashed out at Anthony Loke, who is now the party’s secretary-general, for his call to stop making Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim the sole Pakatan Harapan (PH) prime ministerial candidate, following the coalition’s heavy defeat in the Melaka election.

Then in December last year, Liu drew attention when he commented on the inadequate diversity within DAP, stressing on the need to project multi-racialism and pluralism.

He had called for a major overhaul of the party’s leadership and operations to shed its Chinese image, and woo the support of the Malay majority.

He said every statement from the top DAP leadership must be in Bahasa Malaysia, and translated versions in English and Chinese should be provided to avoid misrepresentation.

“All political ceramah must be conducted mainly in Bahasa Malaysia, but it’s okay to have interpretations in other languages,” he had said.

Earlier, in April last year, he had elicited disagreements from his party colleagues, especially Damansara MP Tony Pua and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, when he told DAP not to belittle or degrade itself to gain Malay support, claiming the party need not dilute its “Chinese-ness” just because of external criticisms.

He acknowledged that DAP needed to cooperate with Malay parties, but said it should not portray itself as a non-Chinese party. 

In December 2020, he had also commented on the importance of a “political reset” and Anwar’s leadership of PH.

He had insisted that Malaysia can only be saved by a pluralistic leader, pointing to how apartheid policies have divided South Africa and “white privilege” policies have divided the United States. 

“Both policies have failed and we need a prime minister for all,” he had said. – The Vibes, October 8, 2022