PKR tells DAP not to talk big in Sarawak

(The Star) KUCHING: Long before the state polls due in 2011, Pakatan partners DAP and PKR are already at loggerheads in Sarawak, with the former being told not to “talk big” and stake a claim on constituencies to contest.

PKR’s Ngemah assemblyman Gabriel Adit said the DAP should be reasonable in its negotiations with its Pakatan partner on seat allocations for the state polls due in 2011.

“Don’t talk big and say (DAP) cannot negotiate on this or that (seat). You have to be reasonable if you want others to be reasonable,” he said yesterday.

The second round of DAP-PKR talks on seat allocation did not take place here on Saturday as scheduled.

Sarawak DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng said that if negotiations on seat allocations failed, there could be no Pakatan Rakyat in the state in the next election.

The Bukit Assek assemblyman reiterated on Saturday that the DAP would contest 25 of the 71 state seats in the next polls. It now has six assemblymen.

It is an open secret that the DAP has laid claim on Padungan, now represented by PKR’s Dominique Ng Kim Ho, and a few other “contentious” seats.

Adit, who is a member of the PKR negotiation team, said: “We will talk and talk until we cannot talk. The DAP cannot defeat the Barisan Nasional by itself, nor can PKR win the state government by going it alone.”

Another state PKR leader, Baru Bian, said Sarawak DAP was being unreasonable, adding: “The bottom line as agreed is that the candidate who has the best chance of winning should be allowed to contest in that constituency.”