BARELY a week after PKR Members of Parliament (MPs) Larry Sng of Julau and Stephen Choong of Tebrau pledged full support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, two ex-DAP state assemblymen have joined their footsteps.
This time around Muhyiddin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) netted Perak lawmakers Paul Yong Choo Kiong (Tronoh) and A Sivasubramaniam (Buntong).
After leaving DAP in March last year following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan Government, both Yong and Sivasubramaniam declared themselves as independents and support the Perikatan Nasional coalition.
Yong was also the former state exco for Housing, Local Government, Public Transport, Non-Islamic Affairs and New Villages.
In July last year, Yong – who has an ongoing court case for allegedly raping his maid – had claimed that except for Umno, PAS and MIC, the representatives of other political parties had asked him to join them.
As for Sivasubramaniam, the three-term assemblyman had actually joined Gerakan in June last year.
In a statement issued by the state DAP committee on June 26 last year, it was stated that Sivasubramaniam was fired by DAP’s central disciplinary committee alongside Yong for betraying the people’s mandate in March that year.
Perak Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu who confirmed the news said both Yong and Sivasubramaniam had actually joined the party last year.
“However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic their membership process was delayed as it took some time for us to key in their registration in the system,” he was quoted as saying by Malay Mail.
As non-Bumiputeras, both Yong and Sivasubramaniam would be part of Bersatu’s associate member wing.
This follows the setting up of the associate member wing by the party last year to allow non-Bumiputeras to join Bersatu.
Ahmad Faizal, who is also the state Bersatu chairman, further pointed out that non-Bumiputera members can contest under the party’s banner in the election.
However, Yong who is now a member of Batu Gajah Bersatu division and Sivasubramaniam who is in the Ipoh Barat division will have no voting privileges in internal party matters due to the party constitutions. – March 5, 2021
