DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has said that he will not be playing a leading role in Pakatan Harapan, in the hopes that more youths will take up the mantle of responsibility instead.

"That is one of the reasons I am not in the (Pakatan Harapan leadership) line-up...We want to see more youths," he quipped during a dialogue session at a DAP Hari Raya open house in Bangsar today.

He was responding to a member of the audience who had asked about what DAP could offer youths in particular, to address issues such as those surrounding student loans from the National Higher Education Fund.

Lim added that one of Pakatan Harapan's hopes is for more youths to take up positions of responsibility and be accountable for decisions that affect them. 

"The youths must be able to decide for themselves what is important for the country," he stressed.

When met later, Lim merely said he stood by his statement and did not want to elaborate.

"I stand by what I said...," the Gelang Patah MP said when pressed to explain DAP's decision not to nominate him for Pakatan Harapan's leadership line-up.

"There is no need to elaborate...One reason is to give way to the young," he insisted.

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin had previously explained that
the Pakatan Harapan leadership line-up was decided based on names submitted by each component party.

'DAP's de-registration not an issue'

Lim, meanwhile, reiterated that the issue of DAP being disqualified from contesting in the next general election was not a concern.

"The question of DAP being unable to contest does not arise.

"We are a registered party and our logo is recognised," he said when asked for comments on former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement earlier today that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) could not let DAP contest on its ticket as it must remain a Malay party.

Mahathir said this in response to the possibility of DAP being de-registered, following the Registrar of Societies' latest directive to order a re-election of its Central Executive Committee, which would render the party unable to contest in the next general election.

The DAP had been caught in a similar predicament in the run-up to the last general election in 2013.

It was however decided at the time that DAP's candidates could run for the election under the banner of PKR and PAS as partners in Pakatan Rakyat, which was the former federal opposition pact.