Count me out, ex-Melaka DAP chief says over ‘PH Plus’ plan

A former Melaka DAP chairman has decided to boycott Pakatan Harapan’s campaign for the Nov 14 Melaka state election over talk of a possible electoral understanding with Bersatu.

Former Duyong assemblyman Damian Yeo said he recently met fellow former Melaka DAP chief Tey Kok Kiew, where they discussed PH’s strategies for the upcoming state polls.

“But when I heard that the plan under PH Plus could involve giving up Bemban to Bersatu, my immediate reaction was, ‘Forget it, I am out.’

“The wound from being stabbed in the back is still fresh. Some political betrayals are simply too difficult to forget, let alone forgive,” he said, citing Bersatu’s role in the collapse of the PH-led federal and Melaka governments in 2020.

“After hearing all this, I have made up my mind: I’m out. No more politics. No more election campaigns.

“I have better things to do with my life. All the best to everyone,” Yeo said in a Facebook post.

Yeo was appointed Melaka DAP chief in 2021 following Tey’s resignation. He stepped down from the post two years later.

A lawyer by profession, Yeo was elected Duyong assemblyman in 2018 with a majority of 2,895 votes. He lost the seat to Umno’s Noor Helmy Abdul Halem in the 2021 polls by a meagre 200 votes.

Melaka PH has insisted that it will contest in the upcoming state election on its own, but speculation of an electoral understanding with Bersatu persists.

This was further fuelled by a dinner between state PH and Bersatu leaders last month, although DAP representatives were not present.