Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen has slammed his Sabah counterparts who quit the party to join a local based party.

Chong said the reasoning that only a "local party can defend local's rights" was just an excuse.

Instead, he claimed the real reason they jumped has something to do with Shafie's wealth.

"Now, due to (former Umno vice president) Shafie Apdal's wealth, many politicians have embraced the benefits in front of them and forsaken the real agenda of political ideology and reform.

"These are the characteristics of political frogs," Chong said in a statement today.

The remark was made in the Chinese version of the statement, while the English version was noticeably tamer, with no references to either Shafie or frogs.

"To those who have quit DAP and PKR on the pretext of 'local party' sentiment, my one-liner comment is that they are opportunist politicians," he had said in the English statement.

Chong was responding to Likas assemblyperson Junz Wong, and Sabah DAP deputy chief Joan Goh Penn Nee who had quit DAP to join a local based party.

Wong and Goh had made the move together with several Sabah PKR leaders in a joint ceremony in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

They did not specify which party they would be joining, but their exit comes amid an effort by Shafie to set up a new Sabah-based party to challenge the ruling coalition.

Chong said "local-based" parties were just another form of racist politics.

"Both are used by the ruling party to divide the people so as to consolidate their ruling position.

"Such argument is similar to the BN’s age-old argument that 'only a Malay can fight for Malay rights' or 'Only a Chinese can fight for Chinese rights'.

He added that playing up local sentiments was a way to distract voters from national issues, and to "rationalise cronyism" at the expense of public and national interests.

He also said that local Sabah and Sarawak parties have not benefited the people, and only end up exploiting the local people.

Malaysiakini is attempting to get a response from Shafie.