Pemanis assemblyman Dr Chong Fat Full can be fined RM10 million by PKR after he announced his exit from the party yesterday and stated his allegiance to the new state coalition government.
Johor PKR deputy chief Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said there is a RM10 million penalty for any of the party’s elected representatives who quit after winning a seat.
“Every one of our candidates, including myself, and I am sure even Dr Chong, signed an agreement before receiving our surat watikah (party’s letter of endorsement) in the last general election.
“In Dr Chong’s case, we will leave it to the party’s leadership to pursue the matter,” said Puah.
He said this during a Johor Pakatan Harapan’s announcement on a special state assembly sitting at the Kota Iskandar assemblyman’s office in Mutiara Rini today.
Puah said he will wait for PKR’s leadership decision for the state chapter to initiate any action against Dr Chong.
In 2018, all PKR candidates for the 14th general election (GE14) signed a legal document to prevent them from defecting to another party.
Signing of the legal document had been the practice of PKR where elected representatives will be fined RM10 million if they defect to another party.
Yesterday, Dr Chong announced his exit from PKR to become an independent assemblyman as well as his support for the state government’s new Gabungan Baharu coalition.
He said he was unsure about the RM10 million fine by his former party.
It is highly expected that Dr Chong, a dentist by profession, will also be offered a Johor exco position in the proposed 10-member line-up as he is the only ethnic Chinese elected representative who supports the new coalition.
Dr Chong’s defection changes the state’s composition with the new ruling coalition having 29 assemblymen compared with 27 from PH.
Johor has 56 state assembly seats. – MMO