DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said Wong Tack’s membership would be automatically revoked “should it happen”, Bernama reported.

Yesterday, Wong Tack declared he would stand in the parliamentary seat after he was dropped as a candidate for the 15th general election (GE15).

Wong Tack claimed he was told he did not fit into the party’s “grand strategy” for GE15. His response came after Loke announced Young Syefura Othman as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate for Bentong.

Wong Tack won the parliamentary seat in GE14 after beating then MCA president Liow Tiong Lai by more than 2,000 votes.

Loke said the party spoke with Wong Tack about fielding him as a candidate in Cameron Highlands but the latter had refused to accept the offer.

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini, Loke defended the party’s decision to choose Young Syefura, who turns 33 on Nov 10, over Wong Tack.

Loke said a survey carried out by Merdeka Center showed that Young Syefura was more popular with the locals compared with Wong Tack. The Pahang DAP state committee had also recommended her as a candidate, he added.

In the last general election (GE14), Young Syefura, who is also known as Rara, won the Ketari state seat, which is under the Bentong parliamentary constituency.

Meanwhile, Loke said Melaka DAP vice-chairman Khoo Poay Tiong would defend the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat in the Nov 19 nationwide polls.

He said Khoo was nominated for his excellent service in the constituency, besides an excellent attendance record in Parliament.

“He is very careful and transparent in managing constituency allocations and never discriminates when serving his constituents,” Loke was quoted as saying by Bernama.

In GE14, Khoo won Kota Melaka with a 49,174-vote majority against Eric Choo (Barisan Nasional) and Goh Leong San (Independent).