PUTRAJAYA, May 3 — DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke today sought to distance his party from Ong Kian Ming’s suggestion to recruit Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan to bolster its political support.

Loke said Ong’s suggestion was the latter’s personal opinion.

"That is his personal opinion. I have nothing to say about it,” Loke, who is also transport minister, told a news conference here this afternoon.

Yesterday, Ong made the suggestion as a guest on the "Keluar Sekejap” podcast hosted by Khairy and Shahril.

When asked to sum up why they should join DAP, Ong claimed the party needed a candidate to be prime minister, and the duo would be suited to this role.

In January, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan announced Khairy’s expulsion over alleged breaches of party discipline, and the imposition of a six-year suspension of Shahril’s party rights.