Unity government still united post elections, says Loke

KUALA LUMPUR: The relationship between members in the unity pact will continue as usual, Anthony Loke

(pic) says, while brushing off Umno Supreme Council Member Isham Jalil’s proposal for the party to review ties with DAP as a “personal opinion”.

“It is his proposal to his party. That is just a proposal from one person. The ties between members in the unity government will be determined by the leadership of individual parties,” the DAP secretary-general said at a press conference after chairing the party’s central executive committee meeting at his headquarters here on Monday (Aug 14).

“Individuals will give out their own opinions but what is more important is the decisions made on the party leadership level.

“The relationship between members of the unity government will continue as usual. In fact our work in the unity government will continue,” the Transport Minister said while adding that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s cabinet would also meet on Wednesday (Aug 16).

“We do not want to respond to the personal views of certain individuals because that is merely a personal opinion.

“What is more important is the party’s decision, so far I have not seen Umno stating that it wants to review (the decision) on its ties with the unity pact,” he said while adding that all member parties of the unity pact had given full commitment to ensure that its government continues to remain stable until the next General Elections.

Loke was also confident that the Federal Government would continue to maintain stability, after the victories in Selangor, Penang and Negri Sembilan in the recently concluded state polls.

Isham had said that Umno’s dismal outing in the state polls could be attributed to three factors – DAP, the party president and Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

On calls for Umno chief Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, he said DAP did not interfere in the affairs of other parties in the unity pact.

“That is their internal matter. It does not involve us and we will not interfere in other parties affairs,” he added.

Calls had grown within Umno for party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to resign as and take responsibility for a disastrous showing in Saturday’s (Aug 12) state elections.

Leading the pack was former Terengganu mentri besar Tan Sri Idris Jusoh, who said Umno was wiped out in all seats across the state.

Loke also announced that the DAP’s CEC had decided that an Umno representative would be appointed to the executive councilor line-up in the Penang state government as Barisan Nasional had won two seats in the state.

He also added that DAP would be proposing the names of candidates from the party for the exco line-up in the three states under Pakatan Harapan rule.

Loke also said DAP’s victory in the Malay majority seat of Sg Pelek, Selangor also reflected the people’s acceptance towards the party and Pakatan Harapan.

Its candidate Lwi Kian Keong defeated Perikatan Nasional’s Suhaimi Ghazal with a majority of 1,458 to win the seat.

On DAP veteran Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang suggestion for Muda to merge with DAP following the Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s dismal outing in the state polls, Loke once again dismissed it as a personal opinion.

“That is of course Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang’s personal opinion. We have no such decision or plans. Our focus will be strengthening our own party,” he said.

He said the party’s youth wing DAPSY would also look into nurturing more young leaders.

He also noted that the party would also look into the seats it won in the post-mortem on election results.