DAP chief seeks end to feud with PKR
(The Star) – KUANTAN: Pahang DAP chief Leong Ngah Ngah has told his members to stop quarrelling with PKR over the issue of seat allocation for the general election.
“It is better to put a stop to this squabble over seat allocation,” he said when asked to comment on the continuing feud between the two parties regarding the issue.
Leong, who is Triang assemblyman, said he had ordered state party leaders to stop issuing any more comments on the matter.
On Tuesday, Pahang PKR chairman Datuk Fauzi Abdul Rahman ticked off the state DAP by saying that it had to “exercise discipline” in requesting for seats to contest.
Fauzi said that although it was not wrong for DAP to ask for additional seats, it should be done through the proper channels and with mutual consent.
He was responding to reports that DAP intended to contest in several more seats in Pahang claiming to have a better chance of winning these than its allies.
In the 42-seat Pahang state assembly, PKR currently does not have any seat while DAP and PAS have two each.
The rest are held by Barisan Nasional.
Leong said the parties in the state Pakatan Rakyat were still on good terms with each other and would sit down to discuss the issue.
“Actually, it is not wrong for us to request for more seats as PKR and PAS also do the same,” he said, adding that the coalition’s central leadership should meet on the matter and all should abide by any decision made.
State DAP secretary and Tras assemblyman Choong Siew Onn downplayed the issue, saying that seat allocation was not Pakatan’s main agenda.
“What is important is to go to the ground, work hard and serve the people,” he said.
However, state DAP vice-chairman J. Apalasamy continued to taunt PKR, saying its representatives were more prone to defection.
“PKR leaders should show more respect to DAP, the senior partner in Pakatan,” he said.
Apalasamy reportedly told a news portal that it was the DAP which had allocated seats to PKR in the last general election, adding that Fauzi should remember which was the more senior party of the two.
“As such, he should learn to show some respect,” he said, claiming that DAP had allowed PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be the Opposition Leader despite PKR having fewer seats in Parliament.
