All is not lost for PKR and DAP
(The Star) – PKR and DAP are holding back their separate election manifestoes as their disagreement on seat allocations has more or less ended.
Although both sides are keeping mum, there have been hints that talks between the two sides are still on despite reports of a breakdown in negotiations on Thursday.
This became obvious when DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng announced in Penang yesterday that the spat between the party and PKR in Sarawak had been resolved.
The Penang Chief Minister said that the details on the matter would be worked out soon and the outcome would be announced by top Pakatan leaders as soon as possible.
This latest development caused the state PKR and DAP to hold back their election manifestos, which the two parties thought of revealing as a back-up plan in case all else failed.
When contacted yesterday, state DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen said that his party would not reveal its manifesto soon.
“Let’s give it a few more days. We’re still hoping to continue negotiations. It’s not a total breakdown, you know,” he said.
He said that anything was possible in politics and did not deny that Pakatan could resume negotiations in the last minute.
State PKR secretary-general Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh said that although the party had prepared its manifesto, it was holding it back in case the negotiations resumed.
“We are still hoping to have a Pakatan talk and nothing is finalised. We don’t want to go at things alone, so we will wait until the last minute.
“As far as PKR is concerned, the negotiations are still on and there can always be last-minute changes,” he said.
Following the breakdown in Thursday’s negotiations, Pakatan coalition parties PKR, DAP and SNAP and PAS reverted to their original demand of 52 seats for PKR, 40 for SNAP, 18 for DAP and six for PAS.
SNAP had announced that it would contest in 40 seats with or without PKR’s approval.
The party reasoned that it served as a platform for all Dayaks to unite, and since it was a local party, it should be given the task of leading the Opposition front.
It revealed a list of 16 candidates on March 15 and unveiled another 11 names on March 22.
It also extended an offer to PKR candidates to contest under the SNAP symbol if they wanted to stand in Dayak-majority seats.
Following this, DAP announced on Thursday that the final round of negotiations had broken down.
Chong then said that DAP would go ahead with its plan to contest in 18 of the 71 seats and would name its candidates in the following days.
He said that DAP was willing to concede Padungan and Senadin but that PKR deputy-president Azmin Ali had demanded Batu Kawah, Dudong and Balai Ringin as well.
“That will leave only 13 seats for us, just one more than what we contested in 2006.
“We can’t be reduced to a negligible party for the sake of the Pakatan Rakyat, if there’s one,” he said.
Nevertheless, on Friday, state PKR chairman Baru Bian pledged to iron out seat allocations with DAP in a few days to avoid three-cornered fights.
He said, as far as PKR was concerned, the negotiations were still on.
The state party leaders had done their part and would not leave the matter to the national leaders to decide, he added.
“I’m 100% confident that the matter will be resolved.
“We aim to ensure that the Opposition coalition works, so the door to negotiations is still open,” he said.
PAS, on the other hand, has called on all Pakatan leaders to wake up and stop squabbling, or otherwise miss this golden chance to dislodge Barisan Nasional in the state polls.
