Seven Sabah DAP leaders quit party

(MMO) – The Sabah DAP leadership has been nearly halved in one fell swoop today as seven out of 16 state committee members announced their exit.

Leading the pack is Likas assemblyman Junz Wong who quit as Sabah DAP secretary to join another local-based political platform that is yet unnamed.

“I was surprised myself when I saw the others show up today. I wasn’t expecting so many people to resign,” he told a news conference jointly held with other PKR leaders at the Hotel Yaho in Sembulan, Sabah this afternoon.

He added that he had expected only four members to resign.

Wong said the others who quit DAP today have yet to decide on their next political move, but hoped they could all stay together.

“We haven’t discussed further yet what our next move will be. We will discuss soon but what is certain is that it will be a local party,” he said.

Also leaving the state DAP today are Joan Goh who was deputy chairman, treasurer David Williams, vice-chairman George Hiew, vice-publicity secretary Charles Manggatal, political education director Nicholas Chak and state committee member Francis Daniel.

“We want to emphasise that we were not persuaded by any particular leader but we left on our own accord. Looking at the latest political development in and outside of the state, this is the right time to unite under a Sabahan platform,” Wong said.

Earlier in his speech during his public resignation, Wong said that the national political climate was divided and Sabah needed its own platform.

“We can no longer rely on a national party to fight our struggle for us. PKR and DAP are still good parties and we still need to work with them, but the opportunity has arisen to fight against the BN in the state,” he said.