In announcing this, Loke, who is the DAP secretary-general, also said that Yeo Bee Yin “would continue to play a role” in the party.

Loke, who was speaking at the party’s fundraising dinner tonight, did not elaborate on their respective roles.

He said no decision had been made by Yeo and Pua on whether they would contest in the 15th general election.

Pua, when asked whether he would stand in the next GE, said the “question does not arise” as no announcement had been made.

It was recently reported that Pua made it clear to party colleagues that he did not intend to defend his Damansara parliamentary seat.

Yeo, the former environment minister, is also believed to be leaning “90-10” towards skipping the elections.

In March, Loke said that Pua – who was Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary during Pakatan Harapan’s 22 months in power – remained a “very important asset” to DAP.

Lim was the finance minister in Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Cabinet.

Pua, along with party colleague Ong Kian Ming, came under fire last year after they were seen to be leaning towards then prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s bipartisan political cooperation offer.