KUALA LUMPUR – Former Bagan Dalam assemblyman M. Satees of DAP has quit the party after being dropped as a candidate, and will now defend the seat in the state election next month independently.
He is the second person to leave DAP to run as an independent candidate after David Marshel, who quit yesterday to run in the Prai seat.
Satees announced his decision at his service centre in Penang, telling media that he had sent his letter to DAP to party secretary-general Anthony Loke this morning.
Satees, who won the Bagan Dalam seat by a margin of over 6,000 votes against a MIC candidate in the 2018 election, spoke about how difficult it was for him to leave DAP after 15 years.
He stressed, however, that his decision to leave was not because he was dropped as a candidate.
“That is not the reason at all. Believe me. I cannot just watch how this ‘emperor’ had things his way and thinks Penang belongs to his father,” he was quoted as saying by New Straits Times.
He also urged friends in DAP not to “hate” him for quitting and running against the party.
“I have nothing against any of you. My fight is just with one man: the emperor,” he said according to NST.
“The ‘emperor’ must know that he cannot be an emperor forever. He must know that Penang belongs to the people and not his father,” he was also quoted as saying.
Satees said if he wins, he would continue to support caretaker Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, and would “never ever” join Perikatan Nasional.
He urged DAP members to stay on in the party to “support Chow from within”.
Satees was dropped from the Penang DAP list of candidates unveiled two days ago. The party is fielding newcomer Kumaran Krishnan, 45, in Bagan Dalam.
Marshel, meanwhile, said yesterday that he would run in the Perai seat after his mentor caretaker Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy was dropped after winning the seat for three terms.
Marshel yesterday also said he would continue supporting Chow as chief minister if the latter wins again, and that he is contesting as an independent to prevent DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng from becoming chief minister again.
This is despite Lim being barred from the post a second time after having served two terms, from 2008 to 2018, in accordance with the state constitution that limits tenure for the post.
In the state polls, Lim is defending his Air Puteh state seat, which he has held for three terms. – The Vibes, July 28, 2023
