The party announced his departure in a statement this morning, bidding the three-term assemblyman farewell.

State DAP secretary Lim Hui Ying said Law sent in his resignation letter this morning, adding that the party respected his wishes. She thanked him for his contributions.

Law, 60, in a short comment to FMT, said: “Enough contribution to DAP for the past 35 years, I’m now looking for another purpose.”

The former Batu Lanchang assemblyman is best remembered as the “Lone Ranger”, when he was the sole DAP representative in the assembly after the 1999 general election when the party lost 13 of the 14 seats it contested.

In the 2004 polls, Law lost to Gerakan’s Ng Fook On by 147 votes but regained the same seat in 2008 and 2013 with thumping majorities. He scored a 15,364-vote majority in a straight fight with Gerakan’s Lee Boon Ten in 2013, doubling his 6,745-vote majority in the previous election.

Law was Penang’s state executive councillor for tourism for two terms from 2008. In 2018, he was dropped as a candidate in the general election.

A former officer with the then United Malayan Banking Corporation for 20 years, he joined Penang DAP in 1986.

He held many posts in the state party, including organising secretary and assistant treasurer and was also once its state secretary before the party’s takeover of Penang in 2008.

In last year’s state party elections, he fared poorly, failing to make it to the top 15 winners who make up the state committee.