Sabah DAP Chairman tells defected reps to also resign as Assemblymen

SANDAKAN, Jan 21 -- Sabah DAP chairman Datuk Frankie Poon has told two of its state representatives, who quit the party last night, to also resign as state assemblymen, saying that it was a mere cover-up before the Anti Hopping Bill is tabled and passed by Parliament this year.

Poon said he was deeply disappointed by their decision to quit the party, along with a former senator, and was mystified by their comments in which they claimed that “there is a lack of trust portrayed by the leadership in the state (party) committee, the state chairman in particular”.

“(To also resign as assemblymen) is the honourable thing to do. It is an abuse of the people's mandate for any elected rep of a political party to resign from that party to become an independent rep or to join another political party subsequently,” he said in a statement here today.

Poon was responding to the report that Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong, Sri Tanjong state assemblyman Justin Wong Yung Bin and former senator Adrian Lasimbang had decided to quit DAP.

He said he had never rebuked state DAP representatives and had always accorded respect to them by offering advice and resolving issues together.

Nevertheless, Poon urged DAP supporters and members to remain calm and assured them that the party would rebuild the two constituencies - Elopura and Sri Tanjong.

Meanwhile, Wong when contacted confirmed leaving DAP but will remain as an opposition assemblyman.

Wong also denied making the decision after being influenced by his father, the former Sabah DAP chairman Datuk Jimmy Wong who quit the party in November last year.

“It’s totally my decision and has nothing to do with my father,” he said, adding he does not have a personal vendetta toward Poon.

-- BERNAMA