Loke hopes Umno will ‘win big’ in state elections

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has expressed hopes for his former rival-turned-ally Umno to “win big” in the looming state elections.

Loke (above) also showed support for Umno to become “stronger” by emerging victorious in the state polls, saying it would only benefit the current coalition government.

“It will be at the expense of the opposition if they (Umno) are stronger. 

“We do not think about fighting each other in the state election. 

“For this unity government to work, we have to think about ways to strengthen ourselves and how to coexist by not fighting (against) each other,” he said in a roundtable session held by Bersih titled “Deepening Democracy in Malaysia: Steering a post-election coalition government” held at Parliament today.

He said this in response to a question by an audience member who asked about the decoupling of the federal and state governments to allow politicians, who are working together in the federal coalition government, to contest against each other at the state level. 

“This was also shown by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and BN cooperation.

“Although they were both in the same (federal) government, they went against each other at the state level and (it has) shown that it (the federal government) would not last,” he said, calling it a “recipe for disaster”.

While PN and BN were part of the same federal government, the then estranged allies contested against each other in the Malacca and Johor state elections in November 2021 and March 2022 respectively.

Therefore, he reiterated that the Anwar Ibrahim-led coalition government’s focus is to make the current administration work.“If we start thinking about killing each other or ensuring BN will not become ‘bigger’ the next round, that will not work.”

In a related development, he said it would be impossible for DAP to work with PAS, considering the latter’s sense of incredulity in multiculturalism in the country.

Loke stood by his party’s principle that whoever forms the federal government must always uphold Malaysia’s multiracialism and diversity.

“PAS in its current form, (the answer is) a definite no.“If you look at their speeches and statements, and the views propagated by the president (Abdul Hadi Awang), they totally disregard Malaysia as a multicultural country.”

DAP had in the past worked with the Islamist party to form Barisan Alternatif in 1999 until 2001, and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) from 2008 to 2015.

Both DAP and PAS were members of the three-party opposition Pakatan Rakyat before the bloc fell apart in 2015 amid differences over the implementation of the Islamic penal code, or hudud, in Kelantan. - Mkini