KUALA LUMPUR — DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has conceded that Malaysia’s coalition government could not have been formed without Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Umno would have been unlikely to join forces with Pakatan Harapan (PH) otherwise.

In an interview with Chinese-language local daily Sin Chew Daily ahead of next month’s six state elections, said DAP has not forgotten the existing corruption charges against Zahid and that the court process would still go on, but also said that there is still a need to work with Zahid.

“Any court cases have to go through the court process to be decided, we did not say that he is deputy prime minister, the case will be dropped now, he still has to go through trial at court,” Loke was quoted saying.

“Now, he is head of Umno and BN, this is a reality that we have to accept. We respect his position, and have to cooperate with him, because he represents the political party and coalition. You cannot say, now he is a burden and want to discard him, politics is not like that,” he said, after being asked if Umno president and BN chairman Zahid would be a burden to the unity government.

Following the 15th general election, no single party or coalition won enough parliamentary seats for a simple majority of 112 to form the federal government.

A unity government was later formed with the partnership of DAP’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Umno’s Barisan Nasional (BN) and other political parties, with their total seats held hitting a two-thirds majority.

“This is the situation that we all know now. The main principle of the unity government is that cannot interfere with other political parties’ politics, whoever is [Umno] president we also have to accept,” he reportedly said.

Loke was also reported saying that DAP should not interfere on who should lead Umno as that would be the latter party’s internal matter.

“If want to say this person can, that person cannot, there would be no end to the matter. As for whether Zahid is a burden, should let Umno itself decide,” Loke was quoted saying in the report.

In the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Zahid is currently facing 47 charges including 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, but was reported to have sent two sets of representation letters — which other accused persons have also done in the past — to the attorney general on the case.

The trial was previously put on hold as the prosecution needed more time to look through the documents numbering more than 200 pages from the representation and to also wait for the outcome of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) plans to further investigate Zahid’s case. This case is scheduled to come up before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on August 1.

While the contents of the representation letters have not been specified, accused persons can generally send in representation letters to the attorney general for various purposes, such as to seek for charges to be withdrawn or to be replaced with alternative charges that carry a lower penalty.

The High Court in Shah Alam had on September 23, 2022 acquitted Zahid of all 40 charges in a corruption case. Zahid was later reported to have sent a representation letter to ask for the prosecution to discontinue its appeal against his acquittal.

The prosecution’s appeal against Zahid’s acquittal has yet to be heard and is scheduled for case management at the Court of Appeal on July 28. MM

DAP must be self-reliant for Malay votes, Anthony Loke says

Anthony Loke reportedly said DAP would have to rely on its own to gain Malay support, even as it maintains its stand as a political party for everyone in the country.

KUALA LUMPUR — DAP will have to work on its own to win over support from Malay voters, the political party’s secretary-general Anthony Loke has said.

In an interview with local daily Sin Chew Daily, Loke said that there were no Malay-based political parties in Malaysia that had not tried to discredit DAP, and that DAP had also found itself in the position of having worked with these different Malay parties at different points in time.

“PAS was in the past our coalition ally, at that time Umno played the role of discrediting, PAS the role of defending, now the situation is the complete opposite: PAS smears us, Umno helps us,” he was quoted saying.

According to Sin Chew Daily, he was responding to a question on whether Malay voters would vote for DAP in the state elections next month, in light of Umno’s demonisation of DAP in the past but with the two parties now being foes-turned-allies.

Loke reportedly said DAP would have to rely on its own to gain Malay support, even as it maintains its stand as a political party for everyone in the country.

“All this while we stressed that DAP is a party for all, while preserving the Chinese vote-base at the same time, we also have to win the support of Malay voters, this to us is a big challenge, not easy to balance.

“Whether DAP can get the approval/acknowledgment of the Malays, I think need to rely on our own efforts, how to prove that DAP is a party for all, Malaysia’s politics should progress in this direction,” he was quoted saying by Sin Chew Daily.

While DAP had in the past been accused by political opponents of being pro-Chinese, the party has a multiracial membership and leadership.

Polling day for the six state elections in Selangor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu is on August 12.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) which includes DAP and Barisan Nasional (BN), which includes Umno, will be working together in these state elections, and are expected to go head-to-head with Perikatan Nasional (PN) which includes Malay-based parties PAS and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. MM

MALAY MAIL