Marina said she was sent to Layang-Layang in 2021 to carry out grassroots work and set up a community centre, and that she was initially expected to contest the seat during the March 2022 Johor election.

“I was fresh, inexperienced, and new in politics when I was sent to work in Layang-Layang,” she wrote in a Facebook post published shortly after midnight.

“At that time, I was expected to face Onn Hafiz Ghazi, who was then Johor tourism, youth and sports exco.”

She said she also served as campaign manager in Mersing during the 2022 general election, where a first-time DAP candidate contested in a constituency with about 76% Malay voters without losing her deposit.

“If we truly wanted to expand the party in Malay areas, a coordinator should have been appointed long ago,” she said.

“Grassroots members have raised this issue repeatedly. So, where is the coordinator to develop the seat?”

Marina eventually stood in Skudai in the 2022 Johor polls, where she won with 26,359 votes, defeating Barisan Nasional’s Lim Soon Hai (12,416 votes) and Perikatan Nasional’s Khoo Keng Ek (6,258 votes).

On May 31, she announced that she was leaving politics and would not seek re-election in Skudai.

Johor DAP chairman Teo Nie Ching responded by disclosing that the party had planned to move Marina to contest the Tiram seat, and that she had intended to propose Marina for the chairmanship of a statutory body regardless of the electoral outcome.

A letter purportedly written by Marina to Teo, stemming from a May 17 discussion, was later circulated on social media. In it, Marina rejected the seat transfer and declined what she described as a GLC post.

Marina said her decision to leave politics had nothing to do with frustration or a preference for safer ground.

“This is not about winning or losing. My decision has nothing to do with being upset or wanting a comfortable seat. That’s nonsense,” she said.