Speaking to FMT, he said he was in fact sacked from PKR last year and was not a member of any party for “at least eight months” before forming PBM with another former PKR member, Larry Sng.

Choong is PBM’s candidate for Puteri Wangsa in the Johor polls.

Both he and Sng, the MP for Julau, were sacked on Feb 28 last year for expressing support for the then Perikatan Nasional government, which was led by Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said he never criticised PKR or its leadership prior to his sacking. “I did not hold any press conference or issue any statement saying I had lost confidence in PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.”

He claimed that PKR, even before deciding to sack him, had already planned to drop him from its list of candidates in the next general election. “I would be forced to retire once my term was finished and I would no longer be able to serve the people.”

He said the main reason he declared his support for Muhyiddin was that he wanted to continue serving the people of Tebrau well. “Declaring support for Muhyiddin allowed me to have access to government resources, agencies and ministers.”

He said he was frustrated over the difficulty he experienced in his work as an MP from Pakatan Harapan following the Sheration Move. “I could not solve people’s problems.”

He added: “I’m much happier now because I have access to ministers. That allows me to help people better.”

Choong is contesting in Puteri Wangsa against Barisan Nasional’s Ng Yew Aik, Perikatan Nasional’s Loh Kah Yong, Muda’s Amira Aisya Abd Aziz, Pejuang’s Khairul Anwar Razali and independent candidate Adzrin Adam.

Election Commission data show that 50% of voters in Puteri Wangsa are Chinese. Malays account for 39% of the voters and Indians 10%.