KUALA LUMPUR: DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has offered to resign as Transport Minister as the party’s response to the house arrest granted to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Announcing this on Saturday (Sept 19) after the party’s central executive committee meeting, Loke said the other DAP ministers would not be resigning.
He said he would submit his resignation letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Loke said the decision to resign from Cabinet will only involve him and not other existing DAP ministers.
“This is to ensure political stability,” he said during a press conference after a three-hour meeting at the DAP headquarters.
“Ministers come and go; the ministry will function as usual. I will need some time because there is some outstanding work. I will discuss with the Prime Minister.
"Surely, projects that are already ongoing will continue, because the ministry won’t stop functioning.
“We don’t want any moves to lead to political uncertainty. At the same time, we needed a stand and reaction from the party,” he added.
Loke said that if all DAP ministers decided to resign from the Cabinet, it would lead to the collapse of the Federal Government.
Aside from the Transport Ministry, DAP currently has Gobind Singh Deo as the Digital Minister, Hannah Yeoh as the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), Steven Sim as the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister and Nga Kor Ming as the Housing and Local Government Minister.
“This is what our opponent wants. We don’t want to give ammunition to our enemies because we know they will try to undermine political stability and the government led by Anwar,” he added.
At the same time, Loke said DAP respected that the pardoning power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong could not be questioned.
"Although we are of the view that there has never been a precedent in our country of anyone convicted in a criminal or corruption case being placed under house arrest, we respect the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to make that decision.
"As a party, DAP has its own stand on this issue, and we feel this is something that is difficult to accept, not only for DAP but for many Malaysians," he said.
His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, on Friday (Sept 18) granted Najib a conditional pardon that allows him to spend the rest of his jail term under house arrest until Aug 23, 2028, provided he fulfils all specified conditions, including paying a RM50mil fine.
Najib, 73, began serving his sentence at Kajang Prison on Aug 23, 2022, over the misappropriation of RM42mil in SRC International funds.
In January 2024, the Federal Territories Pardons Board halved the former Prime Minister’s twelve-year jail term to six years and cut his fine from RM210mil to RM50mil.
He was also convicted on all 25 charges in the 1MDB case on Dec 26 last year, and that case is now before the Court of Appeal.
