SHAH ALAM, Sept 25 — If Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob heeds Umno’s calls for an early general election he and Umno will be severely punished by the public, DAPs secretary-general Anthony Loke warned today.
Loke urged Ismail Sabri to act like the nation’s prime minister and not be pressured by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his followers who are persistently calling for an early 15th general election (GE15).
“I want to tell Ismail Sabri and Umno that if they call for an election during the heavy rain and flood season the public will punish them in ways they have never seen before. We at DAP are not worried, we can go for elections tomorrow if needed.
“If Umno wants to discard people’s grave concerns then they will definitely be punished when the time comes. We at DAP want to handle the flood and heavy rains first then we can go for GE15. So go ahead and dissolve Parliament and see what happens,” Loke said today during a special DAP congress in Shah Alam.
Loke said DAP are not challenging Ismail Sabri nor Umno to dissolve Parliament but rather have been telling Ismail Sabri in a nice way in Parliament and in Dewan Rakyat that he need not be concerned with pressure from Zahid.
Loke said Ismail Sabri has the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to back him up and does not need to feel threatened by Zahid as the president of Umno.
“We’ve been advising the prime minister many times, in Parliament, Dewan Rakyat and more that if Zahid takes away your support you have the MoU with Pakatan Harapan so don’t worry about Zahid’s threats.
“I want to remind Ismail Sabri that you are the country’s prime minister so act like a prime minister and not some party follower,” he added.
The DAP congress today is to make amendments to the party constitution to outlaw party-hopping. Loke said this was in line with the amendments made to the Federal Constitution and hoped all DAP members today would support this initiative.
Last Saturday, Ahmad Zahid said he would have no problem with Ismail Sabri as long as he calls for GE15 this year.
Meanwhile Loke reiterated DAP’s stance that all PH component parties would use the same logo for GE15.
He said the matter of the logo would be sorted with the PH presidential council soon.
He also said DAP would give opportunities to women and youth candidates.
“We’re extremely proud of the capabilities of our women in Parliament or state assemblyman. We have faith that DAP’s women branch will play a huge role in our leadership when we face GE15,” he said.
