Not all the way to the bank, but into the next STATE ASSEMBLY. If the so-called "Alternative" government in waiting can't get its act together. From Sarawak's outcome flow many dire consequences for Anwar Ibrahim-led young coalition partners, so the national leaders of DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat need to sort out this problem as soon as possible before the crafty Taib Mahmud springs into action by dissolving the State Assembly.
This perennial problem of "seat allocations" will also crop up at the next General Elections for Pakatan Rakyat nationwide. The Sarawak's impending State polls will be the acid test for the PR component parties.
Back story, courtesy of the Malaysian Mirror:
DAP wants 25 seats, PKR says 'don't be unreasonable'
Joseph Tawie
Monday, 07 September 2009 12:47
KUCHING - The insistence by the Sarawak DAP that it must contest 25 Chinese-majority constituencies in the coming state election has been described as ‘unreasonable’ by a state PKR leader.
State DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng said on Saturday that his party must be allowed to contest the Chinese seats first and want its Pakatan Rakyat partners PKR, PAS and SNAP to agree to its demand before it wants to sit down to discuss the formation of Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak.
Wong said that the demand was made because DAP has the most chance of winning in Chinese-majority areas.
But PKR’s Baru Bian (right) who is leading his party in the negotiating committee with the DAP, called the demand ‘unreasonable, pointing out the reason why the committee was set up was to examine such claims.
Wong has stated that “if the negotiation on seat allocation with PKR fails, there can be no Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak in the next state election.”
“We will look into the setting up of PR Sarawak only after a favourable outcome from the negotiation of seat allocation”.
The Bukit Assek assemblyman went on to say that they did not want to put the “cart before the horse” and conceded that the opposition parties in the state faced some “controversial seat issues.”
Some of the “controversial” seats both DAP and PKR are claiming to be their rights to contest include Padungan, Batu Kawah, Kedup, Simanggang, Engkilili and Repok and other mixed constituencies. Padungan is currently is being held by Dominique Ng of PKR, but DAP wants to contest it.
Fought each other in 2006
In the 2006 State election DAP and PKR had contested against each other resulting in constituencies like Batu Kawah and Repok going to SUPP.
Commenting on Wong’s statement, Baru said that the reason why the negotiating committee was set up is to examine this kind of claims.
“The bottom line as agreed is the party’s candidate having the best chance to win should be allowed to contest that constituency,” he said, adding that they can claim all the 71 seats.
“But if we are sincere in wanting to win the next election we need to examine our claims seriously based on ground evidence and support. This evidence will be forwarded to the negotiating table. I can also say now that PKR wants to contest all 71 seats but that is not reasonable and we must be sensitive to the political sentiments of other PR partners,” Baru said when commenting on Wong’s statement.
The committees of the two parties should have met on Saturday, but due to unforeseen circumstances the second meeting had to be postponed to a later date.
They first met in July.
DESIDERATA: Meanwhile, in my home state called Negeri Sembilan or "Nineth State", the ninth by-election since March 8, 2008 will see the BN-UMNO being tested in their own backyard, and Najib Tun Razak might just do a dis-APpearing act if he's smart and let deputy Muhyiddin Yassin sing Song Sung Blue by himself. The BN's 2,333-vote majority can be upset with the PAS fielding a "people's" candidate, and hopefully,UMNO repeats its Permatang Pasir faux pax -- picking another integrity-questionable calon like a disbarred lawyer. Maybe make it even more incredible for the Malaysian Book of Records' sake/shakes -- a BANKRUPT BUSINESSMAN! How about it, Bolehland UMNO?
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