JOHOR BARU: Johor DAP chairman Teo Nie Ching has expressed regret over Skudai assemblyman Marina Ibrahim’s decision to sit out the next Johor state election and retire from active politics.
Teo also said the party had planned to field Marina in another urban seat as part of a strategy to expand beyond its traditional strongholds.
“Johor Pakatan Harapan has begun seat negotiations for the coming state election. DAP believes fielding a Malay candidate in an urban constituency won by Pakatan in 2018 would be a strategic move.
“Marina is the most winnable candidate for this mission, and all this was explained to her during our discussions,” she said in a Facebook post.
Teo added that she had intended to propose Marina for the chairmanship of a statutory body, regardless of the outcome of the Johor election.
“To assure her that the party will stand by her regardless of the Johor election outcome,” Teo said, adding that she regretted it if the offer to contest in a new seat had upset Marina.
On Sunday (May 31), Marina announced that she would not contest in the widely speculated upcoming state election and would step away from active politics after four years as the Skudai assemblyman.
She said she intended to return to the community-based work that had always been her passion.
A letter purportedly written by Marina to the state DAP chairman, declining an offer to contest the Tiram state seat, later made the rounds on social media.
The letter stated that she had declined Teo’s offer to contest the seat, as well as an offer of a government-linked company position if she failed to win.
In the Johor election in 2022, Barisan Nasional’s Azizul Bachok won the Tiram seat with 22,939 votes.
In the 14th General Election in 2018, Tiram was won by PKR’s S. Gopalakrishnan on a Pakatan ticket.
