Johor PKR deputy chairman Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said the party’s grassroots in Johor do not want PKR to tarnish their credibility by accepting such ‘political frogs’ into the party. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
JOHOR BARU, Oct 26 — Johor PKR today has opposed the four Melaka state assemblymen — who recently caused the collapse of the state government and triggered the state election — to contest under any Pakatan Harapan (PH) component party.
Its deputy chairman Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said the party’s grassroots in Johor do not want PKR to tarnish their credibility by accepting such “political frogs” into the party.
“PKR is one of the parties that were affected by the actions of political leaders who jumped from the party before this and we are also pushing for the anti-party hopping law to be implemented.
“If we accept such people (the four Melaka assemblymen), it contradicts the stand that we have held for so long,” said Puah during a press conference at the Tebrau PKR division office in Setia Tropika here.
Melaka is set to go to the polls on November 20, with Nomination Day on November 8, for the 28 state seats set to be contested.
The need for a new Melaka government, which would be the third in as many years in the state, was triggered by the withdrawal of support for Umno’s Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali by four assemblymen, causing him to lose the majority.
The four were Datuk Seri Idris Haron (Sungai Udang), Datuk Noor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundur), Datuk Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas), and Datuk Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu).
Idris and Noor Azman were later sacked by Umno for their betrayal of the Barisan Nasional-led government, while Noor Effandi was also dismissed by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu). Norhizam, formerly from DAP, is an Independent.
They are collectively known as the Melaka Four.
Meanwhile, Puah, who is also the Bukit Batu assemblyman, criticised the government’s decision to ban activities, gatherings or social gatherings related to the Melaka state election.
He hoped that the move could be reviewed.
“The method of using the online campaign is not practical as about 70 per cent of the residents in Melaka were villagers who will face internet access problems in following the campaign.
“The government decided to hold a state election, but the process is not democratic.
“We need to be fair to the people who do not have internet access to know the candidates and get the latest political information from party leaders.
“We hope that the Health Ministry can consider reasonable standard operating procedures (SOP),” said Puah.