KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong will take a leave from active politics until the appeal against his rape conviction is concluded, Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) said today.

Its information chief Zakaria Abdul Hamid said Yong will also be replaced as the party’s Perak state chief and national treasurer "in the near future”.

"The party’s supreme council unanimously agreed to accept Paul Yong’s request to take leave from active politics until his appeal process is settled,” Zakaria said in a statement.

The Ipoh High Court on Wednesday sentenced Yong to 13 years of jail and two strokes of the cane after finding him guilty of raping his former Indonesian domestic helper three years ago.

Justice Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed said the 52-year-old state lawmaker’s defence team had failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case.

Yong was thrust into the spotlight over the sex scandal on July 8, 2019 when the Indonesian worker filed a police report accusing him of raping her at his house in Meru here.

Police arrested Yong the next day and recorded his statement before releasing him on bail.

The Tronoh assemblylman was subsequently charged in the Sessions Court here on August 23, 2019 with raping his Indonesian domestic helper at his house in Meru Desa Park on July 7 that same year between 8.15pm and 9.15pm.

The charge was framed under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code, which provides for a maximum penalty of imprisonment up to 20 years and whipping for those found guilty.

At that time, he was with the DAP and was also the Perak state executive councillor in charge of housing, local government, public transport, non-Islamic affairs and new villages.