After losing Perak, Pakatan loses Amanah, DAP assemblymen to Perikatan

IPOH, March 9 — Two DAP assemblymen and one from Amanah have resigned from their respective parties to pledge their support to the new Perikatan Nasional Perak state administration.

In a joint press conference, Paul Yong Choo Kiong (DAP-Tronoh), A. Sivasubraniam (DAP-Buntong) and Hasnul Zulkarnain Abdul Munaim (Amanah-Titi Serong) all said they were resigning to become Independents backing Perikatan’s mentri besar.

Yong asserted that they decided to quit in order to protect their constituents’ interest and that of the state’s residents.

“Looking at the formation of Perikatan Nasional (PN), there is no representative from the Chinese or Indian community. That is why we decided to become Independent,” he told reporters when met at his office at the State Secretariat Building here.

Yong also purported that many projects in their respective constituencies would be suspended if they chose to be the Opposition.

“We don’t want the people to suffer and lose all the benefits they were expecting. I want people to understand that we take this decision to be Independent in order to help them.

“That is why we support mentri besar (Ahmad Faizal) so that the people’s interest can be protected and preserved,” he said.  

Earlier, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who is also the Perak Bersatu chairman, announced in a press conference at the Meru Casuarina Hotel here that an agreement was reached with Umno and PAS to form the PN coalition in Perak.

Ahmad Faizal also announced that former PKR Kuala Kurau assemblyman Datuk Abdul Yunus Jamhari and independent assemblyman Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi have both joined his party.

Separately, Yunus said he decided to join Bersatu as he believed it is the right platform for him to continue his struggle

“This is my choice. No one forced me. I voluntarily made the decision to join Bersatu,” he told reporters briefly after the press conference.

When asked how if people labelled him as a traitor for leaving PKR and joining Bersatu, Yunus said that the issue of traitor is not relevant.

With this, the current alignment in Perak would give PN 32 seats versus the 23 that PH still retained in the state assembly.