KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (Sin Chew Daily) – Anthony Loke Siew Fook is widely seen as the most likely person to take over DAP’s secretary-general post in the March 20 party elections.

The DAP national organizing secretary nevertheless said he is mentally prepared if he is eventually not elected to the post.

‘Will never ever join MCA’

He told Sin Chew Daily in an exclusive interview at DAP headquarters that he would never quit the party or join another party if this were to happen to him.

“I have always reminded myself not to always think that I must be the one, or that I must be supported by other people.

“Whatever that happens, I will definitely respect the delegates’ decision, and will accept it even if I don’t get into the central committee. I won’t defect to Warisan.”

“From the day I joined DAP, I have never thought of joining another party.

“And since young I have had the thinking that I would never ever join MCA. That’s for sure. I just hate MCA and I totally don’t agree with that party!”

Loke said if some day he no longer has a future in the party, he will at most quit politics, adding that few people are like Lim Kit Siang who spends his entire life fighting for his political ideals.

‘We did work very hard to fulfill our promises’

On the widespread frustration among the voters with Pakatan Harapan’s unkept promises, Loke said indeed the coalition had worked very hard to fulfill its pledges, including UEC recognition, but before this could be done, the PH government was toppled.

“The voters had expected us to fulfill our pledges immediately, such as UEC recognition and economic turnaround, but we had to face a lot of challenges, including the very bad conditions the government had to face.

“PH had to make sure the government’s operation could be sustained.”

He said very often the voters wanted to see the results of their efforts and not just the process.

“Their thinking was, we chose you as our leaders, then you must solve our problem and face any difficulty that might arise.”

On whether PH will continue with its unaccomplished mission in the next general election, he said, “Indeed, we want to tell the people that the reforms we implemented were all for the future of this country.”

‘I still have a lot of respect for Anwar’

Loke, who has openly said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should not be the opposition’s only candidate for prime minister in the 15th general election, said PH had yet to make a final decision on this matter.

“This is an issue we must consider and cannot avoid. It will be a very important factor for the next election. But for the time being, I think we still have not made a new decision.”

He nevertheless said he still had a lot of respect for Anwar.

“Many say Anwar has his weaknesses, but I have never said we don’t need him any more. Never. I only said we needed to be more flexible.

“I didn’t mean to deny Anwar’s efforts and the role he played. Instead, I still respect him a lot.”

Loke said it would be the end of the story for PH if it didn’t look for alternative solutions after the Melaka state election, insisting that only Anwar could be PM instead of modifying its existing strategies.

On PH parties’ use of different logos in the upcoming Johor election, Loke said that was only an election strategy and that it is premature to conclude that PH will collapse soon.

He said, “It’s a compromise. We do not enforce that all the parties must use the same logo in the election.”

When asked whether this would affect the cooperation among PH component parties if they couldn’t even agree on using a common logo, Loke said the use of different logos is only a strategic move.

“It doesn’t mean we cannot work together because of the logo issue. Most importantly we have our common policies and goals.”

Relationship with Warisan has changed

On the relationship with Parti Warisan Sabah, Loke said although his party DAP had never treated Warisan as a rival, certain things its vice president Datuk Junz Wong did recently showed that the party had the intention of replacing DAP.

“We are not targeting Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal or treat him as an enemy. He is still our friend, but our relationship is now obscured because he allows people around him to do such things.”

Loke said Shafie thought people around him could take over DAP’s position in the local Chinese community.

He also said although DAP had not started seat negotiations with Warisan, the party would do its utmost to avoid three- or even four-cornered fights in the next general election in order to strengthen the opposition.

“But one thing very important is that we won’t compromise on the seats we have won. DAP will defend every seat it has won, be it a state or parliamentary seat. This is non-negotiable.”