Ramkarpal Singh warned us about taking Mahathir into Pakatan but DAP won't listen to him - Ramkarpal is warning us again of accepting the Malacca frogs

Grave mistake if Harapan accepts Malacca defectors, says DAP MP

Accepting the four Malacca defectors as part of Pakatan Harapan would be a grave mistake for the coalition, according to Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh.

"Accepting them would be a grave mistake by Harapan which may result in the wrath of voters in the coming Malacca state election as well as GE15, which it must avoid," Ramkarpal said in a statement today.

He was responding to Harapan chairperson Anwar Ibrahim's view that the four Malacca assemblypersons who defected to topple the BN-led state government should not be looked at the same way as those behind the Sheraton Move last year, as they were returning the people's mandate.

"It must be noted that the four have not publicly expressed their reason for becoming independents as wanting to return the mandate of the people to Harapan.

"In fact, two of the four were from Umno and were never part of Harapan. As such, the question of them returning the mandate to Harapan by becoming independents does not arise," Ramkarpal (above) said.

An afterthought

The two formerly from Umno are Sungai Udang assemblyperson Idris Haron and Pantai Kundor assemblyperson Nor Azman Hassan, while the other two are former Bersatu Telok Mas assemblyperson Noor Effandi Ahmad and former DAP Pengkalan Kundor assemblyperson Noor Hizam Hassan Baktee.

Ramkarpal argued it would also be wrong to say that the two non-Umno members were not complicit in the Sheraton Move, as they would have otherwise remained in Harapan and retained the Malacca state government.

"The reason given publicly by the four for becoming independents was that they had become frustrated with the administration of the Malacca government, not that they were remorseful the government was robbed from Harapan.

"Even if they now contend that the reason for them becoming independents was to return the mandate of the people to Harapan, this would clearly be an afterthought as there has been no indication from them publicly before that this was the case," Ramkarpal said.

The DAP national legal bureau chairperson reiterated that Harapan must not accept the four defectors, while at the same time pushing for anti-hopping laws.

On Oct 21, Harapan announced that it would not be fielding Norhizam as a candidate, and so far no decision has been made on the status of its ties with the other three defectors.

However, Anwar indicated yesterday that he is open to accepting the trio.