PETALING JAYA: DAP members who contest as Independents in the coming state polls will automatically lose their membership, warned the party secretary-general.
Anthony Loke said the matter was clear in the DAP constitution.
He said party leaders, regardless of their seniority, must be prepared to take a step back when it was time.
“There is no single leader who can play any role (in the party) forever,” Loke, who is the Transport Minister, said after witnessing the signing of an MOU between MRT Corp and Hong Kong’s MTR Corp yesterday.
He was asked to respond to Penang DAP deputy chairman Dr P. Ramasamy, who questioned whether the party was still the same as the one he joined in 2005 after being axed from the candidate list in the state.
Loke said the state polls were about the future of Penang and not about individuals.
“When there are changes in candidature, there will definitely be reactions, and that is expected in any election. I don’t want to react too much to the negative reactions. They are free to say what they want; we have made a decision and will stick with it,” he added.
He said the situation involving former Seberang Perai City councillor David Marshel was different as he had resigned from the party before announcing his intention to contest the state polls.
“Once he resigns, it is of course his right as a citizen to contest in any election,” said Loke.
Meanwhile, incumbent Bagan Dalam assemblyman Satees Muniandy, who was dropped from the DAP list in Penang, said he had resigned from the party to contest as an Independent.
“The battle is not about me anymore, but saving Penang and the people,” he told a press conference.
