In a press conference at the Melaka DAP headquarters today, organising secretary Loke Siew Fook said that the party had expressed its opposition to accepting former chief minister Idris Haron and former Pantai Kundor assemblyman Nor Azman Hassan into PH, but had been voted down by its Pakatan Harapan (PH) allies, PKR and Amanah.
“We have not changed our position, we still don’t agree with the two nominations,” he told the media.
“Some of our supporters have stated their unhappiness, but we have to explain to them that while DAP’s position has been made clear, we cannot just base our voting considerations on these two (nominations).
“What is at stake is that if they (DAP supporters) don’t come out to vote, or they do not vote for PH, it will cause PH not to have the opportunity to regain our mandate in Melaka.”
Loke added that this campaign will be the hardest in DAP’s history, as ceramahs, which has been banned due to Covid-19 concerns, have long been an important tool for the party to spread its message and collect donations from supporters.
In light of this, he said DAP would tonight begin an aggressive campaign that will air as many as three programmes a night on social media platforms, including talk shows and live discussions among supporters.
The party would also deploy trucks with video screens to help disseminate information about its candidates.
Meanwhile, Loke also used the press conference to announce that Ng Choon Koon, who had been accepted into the party in June, had his membership revoked following the latter’s decision to run against DAP Melaka chairman Tey Kok Kiew in the Bemban seat.
Ng, who previously held the seat from 2013-2018 as an MCA member, had resigned from the Barisan Nasional component in December 2018 and applied to join DAP this year.
However, as he had not met the party’s requirement of holding a membership for two years before being fielded as a candidate, DAP selected Tey instead.
“But, since Ng decided to run as an independent, his membership has been terminated,” Loke said.
“We cannot accept people who contest against DAP as independents, so I urge the public to give its fullest support to Tey.”