'Free man' Ramasamy says no plans to join any party

Former Penang deputy chief minister II P Ramasamy has dismissed speculations surrounding his future in politics after quitting the DAP last month, prior to the six state elections.

When contacted, Ramasamy said it is understandable why people would make "wild speculations" based on a Facebook post by Perikatan Nasional secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin earlier today.

"So, he (Hamzah) posted on his FB [...] okay lah. I can understand. You're not the only one asking.

"There's no plans of me to join anything. I'm a free man now. Let me take my rest and do my writings," said Ramasamy, a former four-term Perai assemblyperson.

Earlier today, Hamzah shared a photograph of him together with Ramasamy, as well as former DAP members David Marshel and Satees Muniandy, taken outside a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

The post captioned "kawan-kawan lama dari Penang" (old friends from Penang) with a coffee cup emoticon, prompted comments questioning whether Ramasamy has approached PN or vice-versa as part of a future political move.

"How can I join PN? No, no, no. That is too far and too wild of an imagination.

"There's nothing. I know him (Hamzah) and met him a few times in the past. So, we just had coffee. That's all," said Ramasamy.

Ramasamy, a one-term Batu Kawan MP from 2008 to 2013, said he had known Hamzah since when the Larut MP was still in Umno.

"He's an old friend from when I was in Parliament.

"That's about it, we're just catching up with the old news and we also talk about national politics," said Ramasamy.

Ramasamy also said he ran into another former Penang state exco, PN’s Taman Medan assemblyperson Dr Afif Bahardin, at the hotel.

"It was just a coincidence. There's nothing. You cannot read too much into it.

“We never discussed my future or the future of my friends," he said.

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