KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Anthony Loke, who also serves as the chief of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), announced his resignation from the Cabinet on Saturday, September 19, 2026. Loke’s decision serves as a protest against the conditional royal pardon recently granted to jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The announcement followed a three-hour emergency meeting and debate of the DAP’s Central Executive Committee on Saturday. The pardon, granted by the Federal Territories Pardons Board and chaired by Malaysia’s King, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, allows Najib to serve out the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest on the condition that he pays a RM50 million (US$12.26 million) fine.
“As a party we have a stand, we feel this is difficult to accept for DAP and many Malaysians,” Loke stated, though he emphasized that the party still respects the King’s authority to grant pardons. Loke reiterated that DAP considers the 1MDB scandal and the associated kleptocracy a major crisis that the party has consistently fought against.
While Loke is stepping down, he confirmed that other DAP ministers will remain in the Cabinet to ensure the political stability of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government. The party is cautious of “political games” from opposing factions hoping DAP will leave the government, a move that could dissolve parliament. “It is what our enemies want. We don’t want to give them the bullet to do what they want,” Loke explained.
Loke noted that he expects his resignation to have no adverse impact on the functioning of the government or the transport ministry, adding that existing plans and projects will continue as usual. He will be submitting his resignation to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim shortly.
DAP holds 40 parliamentary seats, the largest share within the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, making their continued participation in the Cabinet crucial to maintaining Anwar’s current administration.