PETALING JAYA: Ahead of the Nov 20 Melaka state polls, the state DAP has declared that it will not accept controversial Norhizam Hassan Baktee contesting under Pakatan Harapan.

       Melaka DAP vice-chairman Khoo Poay Tiong said it was clear that Norhizam would be a liability to Pakatan, as the Pengkalan Batu incumbent tends to attract controversy.

       Khoo also said the dinner hosted by PKR Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Monday (Aug 18) at Hotel Muzaffar, which was attended by Norhizam, Datuk Nor Azman Hassan, Noor Effandi Ahmad, Datuk Seri Idris Haron was slammed by the public.

       "Our stand is that we cannot accept Norhizam. Everybody can judge for themselves. Look at the news on Tuesday (Oct 19), all public comments were critical of him attending Anwar's dinner on Monday night. You can see how the response is. It will be bad for Pakatan,” said Khoo.

       However, Khoo refused to comment on whether Pakatan would accept Nor Azman, Noor Effandi and Idris as candidates in the upcoming state election.

       On Monday, Idris, Effandi, Azman and Norhizam had met Anwar and other Pakatan leaders at Hotel Muzaffar in Melaka to discuss the potential of the four contesting under Pakatan's banner.

       Idris, who was met by reporters at the hotel, reportedly said that it will be entirely up to Pakatan's leadership on whether it would field the four under its banner in the upcoming state election.

       "We leave our fate to them (leadership)," said Idris briefly.

       Norhizam was formerly an Umno member before joining DAP in 2006 and he was part of the Pakatan-led state government in Melaka in 2018.

       Norhizam was also the former Melaka DAP deputy chairman until his defection to Perikatan in March 2020.

       However, in March 2020, the Melaka Pakatan state government was toppled following the defection of Norhizam and Rembia assemblyman Datuk Muhammad Jailani Khamis and it was replaced by a Perikatan state government led by Umno's Datuk Seri Sulaiman Ali.

       Norhizam joined the Perikatan Nasional government when it came to power in March 2020.

       More recently, Norhizam was also involved in a movement led by Idris, who led two other assemblymen - Nor Azman and Noor Effandi, to topple the Perikatan-led Melaka state government.

       On Oct 5, Governor Tun Mohd Ali Rustam then dissolved the state assembly.

       Prior to the dissolution of the 28-seat Melaka state assembly, Umno had 13 seats, followed by Bersatu two, and two independents.

       The Opposition is made up of seven assemblymen from DAP, two from PKR and two from Amanah.

       The Melaka state polls will be held on Nov 20 and nomination day will be on Nov 8.