Shake-Ups in DAP: Tony Pua Retires, Charles Santiago Will Not Defend Klang, #SyahUntukBangi

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DAP has been dropping some big announcements as political parties begin to name their candidates ahead of the 15th General Election’s (GE15) nomination day Nov 5.

Tony Pua is hanging up his hat and will not be defending Damansara.

He made the announcement at a DAP event last night, as reported by The Star.

DAP on Facebook confirmed that its three-term Puchong incumbent Gobind Singh Deo will be heading to Damansara.

Yeo Bee Yin will be leaving her Bakri constituency in Johor to run in Puchong.

With Ong Kian Ming staying out of GE15 as he stated earlier, lawyer Syahredzan Johan has been named as DAP’s candidate for Bangi.

Syahredzan who is a first time election candidate took to Twitter to thank the party leadership and Ong for the trust given to him.

Ong won the Bangi seat in GE14 with a whopping 68,768-vote majority, defeating PAS’ candidate Shafie Ngah, MCA’s Liew Yuen Keong and PRM’s Dennis Wan.

Syahredzan, who is DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary was previously appointed as Ong’s representative in Bangi and was frequently spotted at the constituency meeting people. At the time, despite Syahredzan downplaying rumours of him running in GE15, social media saw the emergence of the hashtag #SyahUntukBangi.

Another major announcement made by DAP was that it’s Klang incumbent Charles Santiago would not be defending the seat. Just like Gobind, Charles held the seat since 2008 and will now make way for V. Ganabatirau to defend the seat for DAP.

On Twitter, Charles who goes by the handle @mpklang thanked his constituents for an “incredible 15 years”.

“I am deeply grateful for your support and I hope that I have done good by it,” he said.

“My biggest commitment to you, the people of Klang, was to represent you in Parliament; to be your voice. I apologise if I have fallen short but I want you to know I have tried. Deep gratitude to all of you who have been a part of my political journey.”

He also sent good wishes to Ganabatirau, who is also the incumbent Kota Kemuning assemblyman.

“My heartfelt good wishes go out to Ganabatirau Veeraman as he campaigns for your support. On my part, I will be pushing our message to vote out UMNO and all corrupted politicians for Malaysians deserve better. So, let’s stand united. Let’s do this together. Thank you.”

It was a day of surprises from DAP yesterday, as they earlier announced that Wong Tack would not be defending the Bentong seat for the party. Young Syefura Othman was picked for Bentong, and Wong later said he would still be defending the seat as an independent candidate.

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