With just two days of campaigning left, Nie Ching says will leave to voters what to make of Ramasamy quitting DAP

KULAI, Aug 10 — DAP’s Teo Nie Ching said today the party’s state election campaigns are unlikely to be affected by former Penang deputy chief minister II Prof P. Ramasamy quitting the party.

The DAP national publicity secretary said the party has no right to prevent its former deputy chairman from leaving, but will always take a positive view of his decision.

“Such a scenario is not only happening in Penang, but also in Selangor as well. There were several former assemblymen who were not renominated for the state election this time,” she said.

She said with two days remaining, it was up to the voters to make their own assessment of Ramasamy’s sudden exit from the party.

Teo, who is the Kulai MP, said that there are different reactions from those who were not named as candidates.

“There are some who will help others to campaign despite not being a candidate, while there are those who decide to leave the party for good. So, it is clear for the people to judge if being a candidate is more important than their loyalty to the party,” Teo told reporters after visiting six families — who were victims of a recent fire in Taman Kulai here — with Senai assemblyman Wong Bon Yan.

Teo, who is also the deputy communication and digital minister, also explained that Ramasamy not being renominated as a state candidate was a normal process in any political party as most are keen to reform by presenting younger candidates.

“I believe that this is a common process and does not only happen to DAP as both PKR and Umno are also known to replace their veteran members,” she said.

Teo said that the Senai DAP assemblyman’s seat was a good example where the party’s candidate was different for every election from 2013, 2018 and 2022, and it did not cause the problem for the party.

“How can the party attract new candidates or talent if there is no change?” she asked.

Earlier today, the former Perai assemblymen submitted his resignation as Taman Chai Leng chairman and as state deputy chairman to the party secretary-general Anthony Loke and to Penang DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow.

Ramasamy was also among the seven incumbents dropped as candidates for the August 12 Penang state polls.