KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Several DAP leaders have emerged from their party meeting called earlier today as tumult rose in the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
DAP’s legal bureau head and Bukit Gelugor Ramkarpal Singh, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, Kampar MP Thomas Su, Penang Deputy Chief Minister P. Ramasamy, Jelutong MP RSN Rayer were some of the leaders who left the party headquarters on Jalan Yew in Pudu this afternoon.
They all declined to speak to the press.
Other DAP leaders are currently in their Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned earlier as prime minister, after two days of intense speculation that he would lead his political party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia out of the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) and form a new government with new coalition partners.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has accepted his resignation, but made him interim PM until a successor is named.
Dr Mahathir, 94, has been prime minister of Malaysia twice in the nation’s history.
This will be the second time he has quit the post. With this resignation, Dr Mahathir will have the distinction of being both Malaysia’s longest-serving and shortest-serving prime minister.
In his first stint, Dr Mahathir was the prime minister under the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration for 22 years or five terms between July 16, 1981 to October 31, 2003, having first assumed the position when he was aged 56 and then stepping down aged 78.
After leading the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to victory in the 14th general elections on May 9, 2018, Dr Mahathir at age 92 was sworn in the next day and took up the position of prime minister again, almost 15 years after his “retirement” from politics when he gave up the post.
Dr Mahathir’s resignation today is just about three months shy of PH’s second anniversary in power.
PKR has also announced that it had sacked its deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin, while 11 MPs including the duo, separately announced that they had quit PKR and PH to form an independent bloc in Parliament.
Azmin was previously speculated to be planning to lead his faction to join forces with Dr Mahathir’s PPBM and several other parties including Umno and PAS to form a new coalition government.
For the PH coalition to hold on to power or for any new coalition to form a new government, they will need to have at least 112 MPs or a simple majority of the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat to be on their side.
