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SHAH ALAM – DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has brushed aside assertions by Johor Umno deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who claimed that DAP has sidelined Amanah by courting Muda.
When questioned on DAP’s take on the accusation, Loke declined to directly address the matter and instead took aim at Nur Jazlan for meddling in affairs that do not affect him in any way.
“Nur Jazlan is too free; he loves to comment about other people’s (matters).
“He is quite a busybody nowadays,” Loke csaid during a press conference at the IDCC Convention Centre here, suggesting that the ample time Nur Jazlan seems to have on hand might be due to how he does not intend to contest in the upcoming 15th general election (GE15).
“Since he is not planning to contest in the next election – perhaps because he thinks he will lose in Pulai – he is too free to give comments on matters that do not concern him,” Loke said, adding that the press should approach Amanah instead for their response to Nur Jazlan’s comments.
On Wednesday, Nur Jazlan had reportedly alleged that Amanah was no longer DAP’s golden child as it cannot be depended on to win over Malay votes while “new sugar baby” Muda, membered by mostly young Malay liberals, could be up for the task.
He also said that Amanah’s defeat in the recent Melaka and Johor elections saw DAP losing its “love” for its fellow Pakatan Harapan (PH) component party.
Citing Amanah Youth chief Mohd Hasbie Muda’s insistence that the party be allocated with “grade A” winnable seats in GE15 that match the seats given to other political partners, Nur Jazlan labelled the call as a vocal outcry against Muda.
Hasbie also said that some Amanah Youth members were disappointed as winnable seats had been given to political partners while the youth wing was allocated “national service” seats.
Previously in March, Nur Jazlan had announced that he would not be vying for the Pulai parliamentary constituency during GE15, a seat he had held for 14 years prior to losing the position to PH’s Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub during the 2018 election.
Meanwhile, Loke said that PH does not enforce any prerequisite conditions for those who wish to join the coalition.
“As far as PH is concerned, negotiations to enter PH do not require any preconditions,” he said after announcing that DAP’s party constitution has been successfully amended to prevent party hopping.
The amendment was passed with a resounding majority vote of 99.9%, Loke said, with only two dissenting voices among a crowd of 1,175 delegates.– The Vibes, September 25, 2022
