Parti Rakyat Malaysia to slug it out with more seats
(The Star) – Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) will now contest more seats upcoming general elections and was also willing to slug it out in three-cornered fight with Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.
PRM, which only contested in the Stulang state seat and the Johor Baru parliamentary seat in the 2008 last general elections, is now eying two more seats in the state.
The party’s deputy national president S. K. Song said that the party was well prepared for the upcoming general elections and would focus on issues such as education, corruption and the increasing cost of living in the state.
“We will contest in Johor Jaya, Stulang as well as Johor Baru and Gelang Patah parliamentary seats,” he told reporters during a press conference here yesterday.
He believes there would even be a possible four-cornered fight in Johor Jaya as the area was a hot seat.
“The area consists of many Chinese votes and is a pro-opposition seat so we believe we can get a good number of votes from Johor Jaya,” he said.
The veteran politician, who was once in DAP, has since announced that he would not be contesting in the coming election and all the candidates would be new faces.
Asked whether the party’s move to contest in three and four-cornered fights might split the votes and be at a disadvantage for the opposition, he said, “Everybody had the right to contest in an election and to fight for their rights”.
Song admitted that the party has been suffering losses over the years and in some cases even lost their deposits, but this would not deter them from contesting in the four seats.
Song added that the party was open to working alongside DAP and PKR and but would not compromise by merging Pakatan.
Asked if there have been any formal talks on seat negotiations, he said that so far there has been none.
“We have done a lot of ground work since the previous general elections like meeting with non-governmental organisations (NGO) and the people to understand more about the problems that they face,” he said.
He also said that the party would persist and would not give up just because they lost badly in the previous elections.
