(June 12): National laureate Datuk A. Samad Said will join the DAP tomorrow, he confirmed today in response to rumours that the Bersih 2.0 activist would be joining the opposition political party.

"It's true," the former co-chairperson of the electoral reform group said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.

Samad, also known as Pak Samad, declined to elaborate and said he would explain his reasons for joining DAP at a press conference in Kelantan tomorrow with other party leaders present.

"As we will be having a press conference, I will answer there," he said.

DAP national organising secretary, Anthony Loke said Pak Samad would be present with other DAP leaders tomorrow at a programme by Gabungan Impian Kelantan (GIK) at Kampung Pasir Tumboh, in Gua Musang, Kelantan, tomorrow.

Loke said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, PAS's Kuala Krai MP Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli and former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan would also be present.

He said it would be up to Pak Samad to make an announcement on his DAP membership, and declined to say if the laureate was joining the secular-socialist party of his own accord or if DAP had invited him to do so.

Pak Samad's membership is expected to help the DAP boost its numbers among the Malay community, given that the party has long been viewed as being overly Chinese.

It has also been labeled anti-Islam and anti-Malay by political rivals. – The Malaysian Insider