Loke seeks to appease dropped candidates, party members

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After dropping eight incumbents from the upcoming Penang state election, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke is attempting to appease party members and those who did not make it into the party lineup.

He reminded party members that the candidates’ success is not their victory alone as it belongs to the party and Pakatan Harapan.

“For sure, there will be new faces, some will retire, and some will not get nominated again. This is a process we go through in every election,” he said.

However, he urged all party members to support the selected candidates during the campaign period.

“It’s not a personal victory for any particular candidate we field. Their victory is a victory for the party and Pakatan Harapan.

Bernama

“There is no such thing as that a personal victory would take precedence,” he asserted in his speech.

He also reiterated that if Harapan and BN win in Penang, the party will nominate the caretaker Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow for a second term.

Among the notable incumbents dropped in the major shake-up were five caretaker state executive council members – deputy chief minister II P Ramasamy, DAP Women’s chief Chong Eng, Phee Boon Poh, Yeoh Soon Hin and Soon Lip Chee.

After serving several terms as assemblypersons in Penang, these veteran leaders have an immense supporter base in the northern state.

Also dropped were former Bagan Dalam assemblyman M Satees and former Pulau Tikus assemblyman Chris Lee Chun Kit.

Emulating a similar move made in Selangor, Loke had offered to propose Yeoh as the next Penang Port Commission chairperson as what is seen to be a consolation prize for the latter after not being selected to defend his Paya Terubong state seat.

In a separate press conference today, Loke also made it known that Yeoh will be proposed as a parliamentary candidate when the next general election comes around.

During the event at JEN Penang Georgetown Hotel, there was one jarring omission – the absence of Ramasamy, Chong and Soon.

Phee, who announced his plan to retire a while back, supported his daughter Syn Tze, who will be contesting in Sungai Puyu, the seat vacant by her father.

While Ramasamy has yet to make a public statement after not being fielded to defend his stronghold in Perai, Chong called on her supporters not to lose hope in DAP.

In a vague Facebook post, Chong said, “For those who supported me, don’t give up on DAP.

“Party is made up of men and women. We can’t expect everyone to be perfect.

“So, you can give up on (an) individual but don’t give up on the party.”

On July 11, Chong openly supported Chow to serve a second term should Harapan wins in Penang again.

She had also said the party should consider announcing the candidate for Penang CM.

Two days later, the DAP top leadership unanimously nominated Chow as the party’s candidate for Penang chief minister.

The DAP also decided there will be a “major renewal” in DAP members who take up state cabinet positions if the Pakatan Harapan-BN pact was mandated to form the government.

Speculation was rife that there has been heavy lobbying from various party factions to get their candidates of choice into the line-up for the upcoming state poll.

Earlier today, a leaked list of candidates was shared on social media just hours before DAP made its official announcement and was reported by local portals and online newspapers.

In response to the viral list, which was proven to be 100 per cent accurate, Loke quipped by expressing his thanks to the media for publishing articles on the list of candidates before he made the announcement.

“DAP Penang is known for its transparency. Even its candidates’ list is transparent. I have the list here, but the media published it before I announced it.

“We don’t have to hide it anymore. If it’s not correct, we will say so. But if it’s correct, we don’t need to hide it. We admit that this is the correct list.”

Ramasamy, Chong, Phee, Yeoh and Soon would be replaced by Datuk Seri S Sundarajoo for the Prai state seat; Gooi Zi Sen (Padang Lalang); Phee Syn Tze (Sungai Puyu); Wong Hon Wai (Paya Terubong) and Chee Yeeh Keen (Bagan Jermal) respectively.

Wong was the former Bukit Bendera member of parliament while Gooi was the former Pengkalan Kota assemblyman. His seat would be replaced by Wong Yuee Harng.

K Kumaran and Woo Sze Seng would replace Satees and Lee.

Meanwhile, the Seri Delima state seat, held by Syerleena Abdul Rashid, would be replaced by Tan Hooi Peng. Syerleena is currently the Bukit Bendera MP.

Caretaker Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who has been named to be Chief Minister for the second term if the Pakatan Harapan – Barisan Nasional coalition retains power in Penang in the upcoming state election, would defend his Padang Kota seat.

DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng would also defend his Air Putih seat.

Chow is the Tanjung MP while Lim, the Bagan MP.

Also retained were Heng Lee Lee for the Berapit seat; H’ng Mooi Lye (Jawi); Zairil Khir Johari (Tanjung Bungah); Teh Lai Heng (Komtar); Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat); Lim Siew Khim (Sungai Pinang); Ong Ah Teong (Batu Lanchang) and Joseph Ng Soon Siang (Air Itam).

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Zairil is the only Malay candidate from the party to be fielded.

DAP will contest 19 of the 40 state seats in the upcoming state election, similar to the 14th general election (GE14).

The seven new faces made up 36.84 percent of new faces in the party.

About 78.95 percent or 15 of the 19 candidates are male while 21.05 percent or four of the candidates are women, far from the 30 percent women’s representation in the state legislative assembly.

PKR will contest in 13 seats, Amanah (two seats) and BN (six seats).

Loke also announced the candidates for the two state seats in Kedah, namely Teh Swee Leong for the Kota Darul Aman state seat and Tan Kok Yew for the Derga state seat.

Asked if DAP is confident to deliver the 19 seats in Penang, Loke replied in the affirmative.

“Penang DAP has been in power for 15 years. We are confident that we can provide our report card on our results and achievements. We are not being arrogant.

“At the end of the day, the people will assess us.

“Let us continue to support Chow as the chief minister,” he added.

To another question on possible action to be taken against a party member who contests as an independent candidate, Loke said he was confident that such a thing would not happen.

He said, if it does (happen), the member will lose his/her membership automatically.