KUALA LUMPUR – DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke today dismissed overtures by Pangkalan Batu assemblyman Datuk Norhizam Hassan Baktee to return to the party, saying that there is no place for party hoppers in the party.
Loke said the party has always and will continue to reject party hoppers, regardless of whether they are from other opposition parties or ruling coalition parties.
“He (Norhizam) hopped out of our party when we were down and now he wants to come back for a platform? He can forget about it,” he told a news conference at the party national headquarters here.
“DAP will never accept party hoppers. We have plenty of other capable candidates.”
Norhizam won his Pangkalan Batu seat in the Melaka state assembly during the 2018 general election when he was a DAP member, and was later appointed executive councillor as PH took control of Melaka.
However, he withdrew support for the PH state government, contributing to its collapse in March 2020 following the Sheraton Move at the federal level, and threw his support behind the new Umno-led administration.
He was subsequently sacked from DAP over his involvement in the collapse of the PH government.
In October last year, Norhizam and three other Melaka state assemblymen pulled the plug on then chief minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali, triggering a snap election held the following month.
Former DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had rejected Norhizam as a party candidate for the state polls.
Meanwhile, Loke also commented on party veteran Lim Kit Siang turning down the role of party mentor, saying that Lim’s decision had been made with the interest of the party in mind.
“He (Lim) made known to party leaders that he will continue to give us his full support, but he thinks that it is better for him to do so without holding any official position among the ranks,” he said.
He added that since the title of party mentor had only been realised to offer a position to the Iskandar Puteri MP and is not part of the party structure or constitution, the post will not be filled by anyone else.
Lim last month declared his retirement from active politics and from any DAP leadership roles after being an active and vocal member for 56 years.
Earlier at the news conference, Loke announced several new party bureaus that have been created in addition to some new appointments.
The new bureaus include the National Social Media Bureau chaired by Syahredzan Johan, an NGO Bureau led by Ketari assemblywoman and party youth wing deputy chief Young Syefura Othman as well as a Public Complaints Bureau headed by Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng. – The Vibes, April 14, 2022
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