KUALA LUMPUR – Penang will not dissolve its legislative assembly, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has said.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council had debated the matter at a meeting this morning and decided that Penang, as a PH-led state government, should stick to the coalition’s decision not to dissolve its legislative assemblies for GE15.
Loke said he knew the decision would be disappointing but had to be made, or PH would be seen to have flipped on its stand for all its states not to dissolve their legislative assemblies this year.
Speaking at a press conference after the PH presidential council meeting today, Loke said if the DAP-led Penang government went ahead with the dissolution of its legislative assembly while the PH states of Negri Sembilan and Selangor did not, it would create the perception that the opposition coalition is disunited.
“It will be interpreted as a breaking of ranks, that PH is divided. This can be used as a weapon by our enemies to show that PH is disunited and cannot make collective decisions.
“As DAP secretary-general, I am not willing to risk this. So this is a very difficult decision to make.
“PH’s unity moving into GE15 is paramount. To me, this is very important. We cannot create any perception that we are divided. So this is a judgment call on my part,” Loke said.
He added that deliberations within DAP and with PH had gone back and forth over the past week to consider the arguments by Penang DAP and state assemblymen that people did not want to vote twice.
“I totally understand these sentiments. But as secretary-general, I have to make a very tough decision,” he said, adding that his decision was again debated at the PH presidential council this morning, and ultimately agreed.
PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was also present, said that the coalition had heard the views of Penang assemblymen and the people, but had to maintain its stand against early elections this year.
Anwar, who is PKR president, reiterated that the agenda for a snap GE15 was based on greed by corrupt politicians, in reference to Barisan Nasional and Umno.
Amanah president Datuk Mohamad Sabu meanwhile said that the decision not to dissolve the Penang assembly in line with other PH-led states showed that the coalition was in harmony and in a strong position to face GE15.
Among the reasons cited not to hold Penang’s election separately from GE15 was possible low voter turnout.
However, it had been PH’s collective decision from earlier on not to dissolve legislative assemblies in its states so as to focus on flood preparation and relief work. – The Vibes, October 15, 2022
