| Trouble is brewing between opposition allies DAP and PKR over ongoing negotiations to reach a seat pact ahead of the general election.
Chinese-language daily China Press fueled speculation of a rift in a report today, quoting PKR information chief Tian Chua as saying that his party was willing to take on DAP and Barisan Nasional (BN) for all seats.
F ocussing on the Batu Kawan seat in Penang, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng expressed shock and disappointment this morning over Tian’s statement.
“If the opposition is disunited, the beneficiary would only be the Barisan Nasional coalition,” he told a press conference at party headquarters in Petaling Jaya this morning.
Their dispute over the Batu Kawan seat is not new - in the 2004 general election, a similar situation resulted in the opposition vote being split and the BN candidate benefitting from it.
Lim pointed to the fact that PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim had said the Chinese-majority seat should be contested by a Chinese candidate.
“Who else but DAP should contest the seat?” he then asked referring to his Chinese-dominated party, although he immediately offered compromise for the sake of opposition unity.
“Our party is willing to let PKR field its candidate and in return we hope that PKR will let us field our candidate in the Bukit Tambun state seat.”
Bukit Tambun lies within the Batu Kawan constituency and is believed to be an opposition stronghold.
“We appeal to PKR, in the interests of opposition unity, to resolve the matter and focus on fighting BN rather than among ourselves,” Lim said.
‘No boycott’
L im said he believes that Tian’s statement indicates certain “negative and divisive elements” within PKR that are against an opposition electoral pact.
“I hope that Anwar (photo) will not be swayed by these elements and I reiterate, let’s focus on fighting BN,” he said.
PKR and DAP today announced that they will be holding a joint press conference in Penang on Wednesday regarding seat allocations between the two parties in the frontline state.
Meanwhile, Lim said that DAP will not boycott the general election although the party still has doubts about the impartiality of Election Commission head Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.
“We will still contest because we want to see changes. If the elections are unfair, we will hold a nationwide protest, but we first have to participate to find out if the elections are unfair,” he said.
Lim also announced that party activist Foo Yueh Chuan has been appointed the DAP national campaign coordinator for the general election, tipped to be “around the corner”. Foo will formulate strategies for the DAP campaign. |
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