‘PKR should make way for DAP’
A Kedah DAP leader says his party should be given more federal seats as they were the performing party in the coalition.
Athi Shankar, FMT
Non-Malay voters were the backbone of Pakatan Rakyat and as such a DAP leader wants his party to contest in 75 parliamentary seats.
Kedah DAP committee member S Neelamekan said PKR, which contested mostly mixed constituencies in 2008, should be the one to sacrifice and pave the way for DAP.
He said PKR was not a force to be reckoned with now, pointing out the party won only three state seats in Sarawak election although it contested in 45 constituencies.
He cited PKR’s defeat in several by-elections and defections of elected representatives since Umno president Najib Tun Razak became the prime minister as a proof that “PKR was not as popular as before.”
As a multi-racial party, he pointed out that PKR’s flip-flop on Islamic state issue, especially when Anwar supported hudud law in Kelantan, “has disturbed many voters.”
He said it was vital for DAP to contest in many federal seats to allay public fears and nullify Barisan Nasional propaganda that Malaysia will become an Islamic state if Pakatan ruled the country.
In the last election, he said in the spirit of common goal, DAP agreed among opposition parties then for one to one fight with BN and contested 45 seats only.
“But it was the best among Pakatan component partners,” Neelamekan, Lunas DAP branch chairman, said in a statement.
The DAP won 28 federal seats in 2008 election and added Sibu in a by-election.
