No entry to party hoppers, says DAP sec-gen

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has today said the party will make it an official position and policy to not accept any party hoppers.  

He said this is in line with the party’s stand, whether such individuals are from within DAP or without, including the most recent example, former Pengkalan Batu assemblyman Norhizam Hassan Baktee.

“We will never accept such frogs. We will never accept any hoppers whether they are from our party or other parties. For Norhizam, the case is very clear: He hopped out when we were down.

“So right now, he wants to come back. He thinks that right now, he has lost in the (Melaka) state election and he wants a new platform. He wants to come back. He can forget about it.

“We told him to forget about it. We have many other good and capable candidates in the line-up,” Loke told reporters during a press conference at the DAP headquarters here.

Norhizam previously said he wished to contest the Hang Tuah Jaya parliamentary seat in Melaka either under a DAP or Umno ticket.

The current Hang Tuah Jaya MP is PKR information chief Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.

In last year’s Melaka state election, Norhizam failed to defend the Pengkalan Batu state seat as an independent candidate which he won as a DAP member in the 2018 general election.

He was one of the four Melaka assemblymen who caused the state Pakatan Harapan government to collapse, triggering the dissolution of the state legislative assembly on October 4, 2021.

Loke stressed that DAP’s policy is a firm “no” against any lawmaker, whether at state or federal level, who is thinking of entering the party.

“That’s why we want an anti-party hopping law,” Loke said. 

The Seremban MP’s response comes after the government’s postponement of the Federal Constitution (Amendments) 2022 Bill on Anti-Party Hopping and Limiting the Tenure of the Prime Minister.

De facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has said the government needs more time to deliberate the definition of “party-hopping”.