DAP today welcomed former diplomat Yeop Adlan Che Rose, who said he decided to join the largely-Chinese based opposition party because Umno and PAS had failed to defend the interest of the Malays.

The PAS member said Umno had hijacked the special constitutional position of Malays for the party’s benefit.

“(Umno) were supposed to champion Malay rights but have they done so?

“No, they have hijacked the privilege to help Malays for themselves and for their cronies,” Yeop told a press conference held to welcome him to the party at DAP’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

As for PAS, he said Malays had hoped that the sanctity of Islam could be upheld by the party, but PAS had also failed to achieve this.

Yeop said he will submit a letter to PAS soon to confirm he had quit the party. He said he had been an inactive member for many years, and the party hardly “kept in touch” with him.

The 74-year-old said he chose DAP as its multi-racial ethos was what Malaysia needed to move forward.

Yeop was formerly Malaysia’s ambassador to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

He had represented PAS as its candidate in the Hulu Langat parliamentary seat in the 2004 general election and had been part of PAS’ Lajnah Antarabangsa (international bureau) committee.

He was then seconded to PKR and elected as disciplinary committee chairman during the party’s leadership council reorganisation in April 2009.

DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang called Yeop’s admission in DAP a “home-coming”, as Yeop’s father, Che Rose Abdullah was the DAP candidate in the first by-election after the 1974 General Election in the Alor Pongsu constituency.

“The Alor Pongsu by-election 43 years ago is testimony of DAP’s formation 52 years ago, that DAP had never regarded itself as a Chinese or non-Malay party, never an anti-Malay and anti-Islam party, but a party for all races and religions in the country,” he said. – November 10, 2017.