KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — This will be Anthony Loke’s fifth general election, only this time around, he will not be seen much at his constituency.
Not because he is neglecting his constituents, but as DAP secretary-general, Loke’s responsibilities have grown to include helping out weaker constituencies.
“I have actually been spending most of my time taking care of other states, and in Negri Sembilan, I have quite an experienced team so they can run on their own.
“So I don’t have to worry about Negri Sembilan. But of course, I have to activate my own machinery in my own constituency and that will give me more room to help other states and look at the national perspective,” Loke told Malay Mail in an interview recently.
In 2004, Loke was elected to the Negri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly for the Lobak state seat, which retained in the 2008 general election, while also being elected to the Rasah parliamentary seat.
In 2013, he contested a state and parliamentary seat, Chennah and Seremban, respectively.
Loke defended both seats in the 2018 general election and was appointed as transport minister when Pakatan Harapan became the federal government.
Does this mean that Loke will have less face time in Negri Sembilan during the impending general election (GE15)?
The incumbent Seremban MP said he is confident that he has done enough, and his constituents know him well.
“I always say that the strength of the incumbent does not depend on an election campaign but depends on how much you have done in the past five years or longer.
“I think over the year as I have built some trust among the people in Seremban. They know who I am. They know my values. They know my way of doing things and whether or not I’m someone who can be depended on when they need me.
“I think that helps me to face the election, as this time around, I have to go to many marginal seats to help my candidates in other areas,” he said.
On top of that, Loke said Barisan Nasional (BN) announcing that it would not be working with PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN) in GE15 has made the battle lines very clear for Pakatan Harapan (PH).
“I won’t say whether it is advantageous or disadvantageous but what is clear right now is there are three coalitions.
“So it’s good that we know what is the battle line so we know how to strategise, how to approach this election in that context,” he said, indicating that this general election is almost similar to the previous one in 2018 and that he is anticipating split votes in many areas.
Without dwelling too much on the outcome of his party’s incumbent seats in the peninsula, Loke said as long as everyone in the party has worked hard, they are ready to except the outcome, no matter what it may be.
While the opponents are clear in the peninsula, PH faces a much trickier situation in Sabah.
“The situation is tricky in the sense that in the last election, we managed to put up a very strong and formidable fight because we combined our strength with Warisan.
“Unfortunately, after the state election (in 2020), there was a breakup in cooperation between PH and Warisan, and right now, we have to contest against each other since Warisan has openly stated that they will contest every single seat in Sabah.
“So it left us with no choice but to face it. They are actually contesting our incumbent seats too, and since the negotiations have broken down, PH has to put up a fight in every seat,” he said.
Reminiscing about the 2018 general election where an electoral pact was formed between PH and Warisan, Loke said while negotiations were intense, the electoral pact was in place so that both parties would not contest against each other and campaign together during the GE15.
“After the last election, we supported Warisan to form the state government because without the support of PH, DAP and PKR, Warisan would not have been able to form the state government.
“This must be reminded to the people that it was not a Warisan government per se. It was a Warisan plus PH government.
“Without the PH numbers, Shafie Apdal (Warisan present Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal) would never be the chief minister in the first place, so that must be told because I read some comments that some Warisan leaders said DAP should be thankful that Shafie appointed DAP leaders to the state Cabinet.
“Well, nothing to be thankful, because they formed the state government based on our support,” said Loke, adding that the cooperation was mutually agreed.
On October 12, Shafie Apdal announced that his party will contest all 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah as well as the Labuan seat in the upcoming GE15 barring any sudden alignments.
As for Sarawak, although its presence was not strong, Loke said he was hopeful that DAP supporters would continue to stand by the party in GE15.
“We have had a presence since 1978 actually and have consistently won seats in Sarawak.
“Those days were at the Parliament level because of the attacks towards us as ‘parti Malaya’ and ‘semenanjung party’, people tended to vote us in as parliamentary seats because they want their voices to be heard in Parliament.
“But over the years, we have overcome that and won many seats at the state level.
“Yes, we took a beating during the Sarawak state election, but I’m confident and hope that they will support us at the parliamentary level,” he said.
Currently, DAP has six parliamentary seats in Sarawak, and Loke conceded it will be a challenge to retain all in GE15.
“But we will try our best to fight it out, to convince Sarawakians that it is important to have a different voice from Sarawak not just the same voice such as GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak),” he said.
