NewzPAS election director Sanusi Nor said DAP’s latest move shows the party frequently flip-flops on its political decisions.PETALING JAYA: PAS election director Sanusi Nor has mocked DAP’s decision for only its secretary-general, Loke Siew Fook, to resign from the Cabinet over former prime minister Najib Razak’s conditional pardon, describing it as “firecracker politics”.Sanusi compared the move with housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming’s previous announcement that he would resign, although he ultimately did not.The Kedah menteri besar said DAP’s latest move showed that the party frequently flip-flopped on its political decisions.“Nga said the same thing before. They act as if they’re going to take action, but nothing gets done. Lots of noise, then silence,” he told FMT.“DAP plays flip-flop politics.
Next, they’ll find an excuse not to resign. Before this, they said they wanted to leave the government. Then they found an excuse not to.”After a three-hour DAP central executive committee meeting yesterday, Loke, who is the transport minister, announced that he would resign from the Cabinet.The decision followed calls for DAP to take broader action, including leaving the government, over Najib's conditional pardon.Loke described his resignation as a “responsible” move and said DAP would remain in the government.Najib, 73, was granted a conditional pardon by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Friday, allowing him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in the SRC International case under house arrest until Aug 23, 2028, subject to payment of his RM50 million fine and other conditions.The legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department said Najib must comply with all the conditions imposed, failing which the conditional pardon would be revoked.
It did not provide details of the conditions.Najib was imprisoned in August 2022 after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.He has been serving a reduced six-year sentence at Kajang prison after the Federal Territories Pardons Board halved his original 12-year sentence in February 2024. His initial RM210 million fine was also reduced to RM50 million. DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook arriving for the central committee meeting on Saturday.
He later announced that he would resign as transport minister in view of the conditional pardon for Najib Razak.PETALING JAYA: Political analysts are sceptical whether DAP’s move to have only its secretary-general, Loke Siew Fook, resign as minister would be enough to quell grassroots anger over the conditional pardon given to former prime minister Najib Razak.One analyst said all five DAP ministers should have resigned. to better retain grassroots support.Lau Zhe Wei of International Islamic University of Malaysia told FMT that resigning en masse would have been the right thing to do, even though DAP was not responsible for the conditional pardon granted to Najib.Such a move would not jeopardise the unity government's stability, as all 40 of its MPs can continue backing the government in Parliament.Lau said the decision for only Loke to quit had placed the party in a difficult spot with its supporters, especially those from the Chinese community, at a time when it is losing support, as seen in recent elections.“What can be done to regain their support? I would propose that all of them resign – not out of anger or because they feel they should take responsibility – but because they have to think about which way is best for them to retain Chinese support in the future.“This is super critical.
Once you lose the trust and bond you have with the Chinese community, it is not easy to patch it up,” he said.Lau said a lack of Chinese representation in the Cabinet would not be an issue, as PKR can appoint Chinese MPs from the party to fill the positions, or appoint outsiders.He said Najib appointed Paul Low, former president of Transparency International Malaysia, as a minister in the Prime Minister's Department when MCA refused to join Najib’s Cabinet after losing in the 2013 general election.He said that while it was not wrong for DAP ministers to stay in their posts, it risked giving their opponents more opportunities to accuse the party of being power-hungry.Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Oh Ei Sun said he did not think DAP’s supporters would blame the party if all its ministers resigned en masse, potentially causing the government to fall.“In fact, support would return (to DAP). I don't think their supporters would be satisfied with half-meas…
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