PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan has only rejected two of the four assemblymen who withdrew support for the previous Melaka chief minister, says Lim Guan Eng.

       The DAP secretary-general said DAP only managed to convince other coalition parties to reject two of them as Pakatan candidates in the Melaka polls but the other two were still being considered.

       "At a meeting on Monday (Nov 1) night, the DAP central executive committee unanimously resolved to reject all four (former) Melaka assemblymen who had earlier withdrawn support for then Melaka chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali, to be nominated as Pakatan candidates for the coming state general elections on Nov 20.

       "PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had publicly stated that two of the four assemblymen from Umno are still being considered.

       "It has been said that to achieve victory in Melaka, we must tactically join with anyone that can give Pakatan victory," he said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov 2).

       However, Lim said the ends do not always justify the means, particularly when seeking genuine political reform.

       "Unfortunately, DAP has been previously outvoted by PKR and Amanah within Pakatan, and are compelled to abide by the majority decision in the interests of coalition unity.

       "However, this does not mean that such a majority decision previously made is correct.

       "DAP hopes that good sense will prevail within Pakatan and urges our allies to choose those who are sincere towards the aspirations of Pakatan and not those motivated by sheer political opportunism.

       "Pakatan must not make the same mistake again by losing the moral high ground to allow the final two of the four assemblymen to stand as Pakatan candidates in the Melaka state general election," he said.

       On Oct 4, Umno's Datuk Seri Idris Haron and Nor Azman Hassan, together with Datuk Noor Effandi Ahmad from Bersatu and Independent Datuk Norhizam Baktee withdrew their support for the Barisan Nasional/Perikatan Nasional-led state government, leading to the dissolution of the Melaka state assembly.

       Nomination Day for the Melaka polls is Nov 8 and polling is on Nov 20.