The DAP has shortlisted two options in response to the two corruption charges filed against the party's secretary-general-cum-Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy said one was to call for snap polls to gauge the people's response to the charges against Lim.

The other was to wait for the coming national polls, to be called no later than August 2018.

"Whatever option we take, we will ask the people to decide whether the action taken against Lim was indeed political persecution, and whether the people want Pakatan Harapan to continue ruling the state," Ramasamy told Malaysiakini today.

No decision has been made regarding the matter, said Ramasamy, who is also the DAP deputy secretary-general.

"It was just a discussion in the party's recent meeting in Penang; the matter has not even been brought up for discussion at Pakatan Harapan level yet, or at the party's central executive meeting.

"We are in the midst of discussing how to respond to the political persecution against our chief minister and secretary-general," he added.

It is learnt that the DAP may want to ride the wave of anger of Lim's supporters who allege he is being politically persecuted by BN.

Lim's supporters also believe that the arrest of Lim by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on June 29, and the charges against him at the Penang High Court the next day, were ploys to divert attention from the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation scandals plaguing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The party is further prompted to test itself, especially after Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong claimed that the charges against Lim were not politically motivated.

This is because Chinese voters may react by returning to the DAP, after many ditched the party in the recent Sarawak state election, and the twin polls in Sungai Besar, Selangor and Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

Lim is charged with the rezoning of a plot of land in Balik Pulau from agriculture to residential use, which the prosecutors said was done to benefit one of the landowners, businesswoman Phang Li Koon.

Lim chaired the state planning committee that approved the rezoning, which was later rejected by the Penang Island City Council.

Phang is also the previous owner of the bungalow on Jalan Pinhorn which Lim purchased for RM2.8 million, purportedly below market value.

Phang has also been charged together with Lim with abetting him in purchasing the property below market value, which is an offence in the Penal Code for a public official.