Loke denies claim DAP to drop Ramasamy from Penang polls

Loke denies claim DAP to drop Ramasamy from Penang polls


DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has dismissed news reports claiming that the party has decided to drop Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy from contesting in the upcoming state election.

Loke pointed out that Pakatan Harapan and its allies in the federal government ruling coalition have not even concluded their seat allocation discussion.

"We have not even done seat negotiation. So, we have not discussed candidates.

"We will only know who will be candidates during the election nomination day," he said when asked about the matter during a press conference today.

The presser was held after Loke launched the Selangor DAP Convention 2023 at a mall in Klang.

On Wednesday, The Star reported that Ramasamy (above) will likely be dropped from the Harapan candidate list for the Penang election.

The report indicated that the Perai assemblyperson will be asked to step down as DAP embarks on a path to inject new blood into its line-up.

The 74-year-old, who has served three terms since his election in 2008, has also rubbished the news report.

Ramasamy is a political leader known for being vocal, and has been caught in several controversies due to his statements.

The most recent incident was in February when he urged the prime minister to "break the Malays' monopoly" in the civil service.

The remark did not go down well with DAP's top leadership and Loke said at the time that the party would deal with Ramasamy internally.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke (fourth left) and Selangor MB Amirudin Shari (fifth left) along with other DAP leaders at the Selangor DAP Convention today


Asked today whether action has been taken against the Penang leader, Loke said that they are still "dealing with it."

"The time will come," he added.


Selangor election

During his speech to launch the Selangor DAP Convention, Loke said he gave the state party chapter a minimum target to keep their 16 state seats in the upcoming Selangor polls.

Elaborating on this, he told the presser it was the minimum target as they are the incumbent DAP seats, but he does not dismiss the possibility of contesting more.

"For all we know, maybe the menteri besar wants to give us a chance to contest more in this round," he quipped at Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari who was also at the presser.

According to Loke, Harapan and their allies are still negotiating on seats for the six state elections.

He also did not dismiss the possibility of DAP making way for Muda in some Selangor seats stating that “negotiation is ongoing".

Amirudin meanwhile said he is confident that Harapan can secure enough numbers to maintain their control of the state government.

He admitted that the recent general election had seen a drop in Harapan support in some constituencies, but was confident the ruling coalition can tackle the issue.

"Like in Hulu Selangor (parliamentary seat), we managed to get a very significant number of votes in Kuala Kubu Bharu. The majority we got was big if we are to split according to state constituencies.

"But we fell short in Batang Kali and Hulu Bernam. And I think this can be improved as we have a unity government," he said.

The 15th general election saw Perikatan Nasional's Hasnizan Harun defeating Harapan's Dr Sathia Prakash Nadarajan at the Hulu Selangor seat by a majority of 1,562 votes.