Ex-DAP’s Sta Maria joins Gerakan
Malaysiakini
Nov 11, 2006

A member of the well known Sta Maria Portuguese clan in Malacca has joined Gerakan.

Joseph Sta Maria, a former Malacca DAP vice-chairperson, resigned from the party in March 2004 just days before the general election was held.

He handed over his membership form to Ng Lip Yong, the Gerakan state liaison committee chairperson and trade and industry deputy minister at the state Gerakan headquarters on Oct 30, according to the Star.

Sta Maria, 45, is a Portuguese businessman based in Ujong Pasir. He was fielded by the DAP to contest in state seats in three previous elections. He said that he decided to join Gerakan after he was approached.

Sta Maria's late brother, Bernard, was a three-term DAP state assemblyperson in Malacca who also quit the party in 1983.

300 members 

Sta Maria joined the DAP in 1982 and quit in 2004, saying that he wanted to spend more time on the development of his minority Malacca Portuguese community.

“Gerakan is now my platform for me to bring the grievances of the Portuguese here to the Barisan Nasional. I would be able to help consolidate the Portuguese's support of BN,” he told the Star.

For starters, Sta Maria said he would be helping Gerakan to recruit about 300 members, most of whom were his supporters and associates.

It is widely believed that Sta Maria quit the DAP at the height of an internal strife in the Malacca DAP.