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SHAH ALAM - DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke's decision to offer his resignation as Transport Minister following the issue of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's conditional pardon has raised questions among the public.
Former Subang MP Wong Chen questioned why Loke had chosen to take responsibility and offer to step down when other DAP leaders were also linked to the issue but had not taken similar action.
He said the main question was why Loke had offered to resign when other leaders associated with the matter had not done so.
“Essentially, people are questioning why Anthony Loke offered to resign, while Hannah Yeoh, who is a member of the Pardons Board, did not offer to step down.
“Likewise, Nga Kor Ming, who had previously openly stated that he might resign if Najib were ‘released’, has also not offered to step down. Instead, Anthony Loke stepped forward to take full responsibility,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Loke announced on Saturday that his decision to offer his resignation was made after a DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting to discuss developments surrounding the issue.
He said his resignation letter as Transport Minister would be submitted to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim soon.
Loke said the resignation would only involve him as a member of the Cabinet, while other DAP ministers and deputy ministers would remain in the government to ensure the country's political stability.
Commenting on the decision, Wong Chen also drew on his own experience of resigning as an MP to illustrate the principle of individual responsibility in politics.
“As a simple analogy, my resignation as an MP came after my access to the Subang parliamentary constituency allocation was blocked. I did not resign simply because Lee Chean Chung's access to the Petaling Jaya parliamentary allocation was blocked,” he said.
Wong Chen said shared responsibility among leaders was generally accepted as a politically sound and appropriate position.
However, he said sacrificing a senior leader so that other leaders could remain as ministers was a different matter.
