“This is inaccurate,” Wong, who has since declared he would defend his Bentong parliamentary seat as an independent, said in a statement.

The activist-turned politician said that Pahang DAP had on Oct 16 “decided to remove me from Bentong”. He also claimed that he was told that he would not be contesting any seats in Pahang.

“I am to disappear from Pahang completely.”

Wong said he was subsequently offered the Cameron Highlands seat following a backlash from the ground and party members in Bentong.

“I immediately declined the offer.”

He said Loke then met him on Oct 23 to urge him to reconsider his decision not to contest in Cameron Highlands.

“I told him I will convey what we had discussed in the meeting with the Bentong grassroots members and get back to him within 24 hours.”

On Wednesday, DAP named former Ketari assemblyman Young Syefura Othman as its candidate for the Bentong parliamentary seat for GE15.

This meant that Wong would not get to defend the constituency as a Pakatan Harapan candidate, having defeated former MCA president Liow Tiong Lai in the 2018 general election.

Wong then declared that he would stand in Bentong as an independent. He claimed that DAP informed him he would not fit into the party’s “grand strategy” for GE15.

Loke had also warned him that if he stood as an independent, his DAP membership would be automatically revoked.

In his statement today, Wong maintained that he did not belong to any faction in DAP and that he had no interest in playing party politics.

“Politics must be about the people. It should not be a game of rhetoric, manipulation or hollow strategies just to win elections.

“It is time to plant the seeds to build a platform for real people’s power in politics, and I hope it starts in Bentong,” he said, before signing off as the “independent candidate for Bentong”.

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