Danyal Balagopal Abdullah has dismissed suggestions that his resignation as the Port Dickson MP will sideline the interests of retirees from the armed forces.
The former Royal Malaysian Navy admiral said this in disputing claims by the military veterans group Patriot that the vacancy of the Port Dickson seat seems to dismiss army veterans and not appreciate their contributions.
"I would like to clearly state that I have considered the military's welfare before tendering my resignation.
"As confirmed by the future prime minister (Anwar Ibrahim), I will still serve for the Army Town in Port Dickson, in fact (work) harder, as I know the future premier is the MP there," he said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Patriot president Mohamed Arshad Raji urged PKR president-elect Anwar to not contest in Port Dickson (above) as the incumbent (Danyal) was a former military man who could safeguard the welfare of both serving and retired military men in the Dewan Rakyat.
Mohamed Arshad also claimed that vacating the Port Dickson seat would cause army retirees to rise in protest against Anwar.
Danyal, however, dismissed this as baseless.
"On the contrary, with the winds of change blowing after May 9, 2018, with the future prime minister as the candidate there and my presence to serve the people of Port Dickson, army retirees would be further spurred to support Pakatan Harapan.
"I hope all quarters will accept my resignation and stop making prejudiced speculations."
He further noted that army retirees were not solely represented by Patriot but other organisations as well and said they would not all agree with the former.
Danyal also pointed out that current Padang Serai MP M Karuppaiya together with Senator Imran Abdul Hamid were also army retirees who had also raised issues pertaining to the retirees' welfare in Parliament.
Yesterday, Danyal announced that he will vacate the Port Dickson seat to give way for Anwar to contest it in a by-election to enable the latter's return to Parliament.
In GE14, Danyal won the seat with 36,225 votes, over BN's 18,515 and PAS' 6,594 respectively.
