Fallout in Pakatan?

(The Sun Daily) – DAP is staying out of the Pengkalan Kubor state by-election campaign, prompting some speculation although the party says it has full confidence in PAS’ election machinery.

DAP national organising secretary, Anthony Loke Siew Fook, said the party will not join its Pakatan Rakyat partners in their campaign trail in Kelantan as it believes PAS has enough manpower to handle the polls.

DAP has very few members in Kelantan, which is the main reason the party is staying out of the campaign, Loke told Oriental Daily News.

“Secondly, PAS has much better knowledge than DAP of the constituency’s demographic make-up and election strategies (to adopt). Furthermore, PAS is the ruling party in Kelantan. We believe they have adequate machinery to handle the by-election,” said Loke.

Loke was asked to comment on the noticeable absence of DAP leaders at the nomination day on Sept 13, prompting speculation of a possible fallout among the component parties of Pakatan.

This is the first time a Pakatan component party is absent from a by-election nomination.

In past by-elections in Kelantan, such as the Manek Urai state by-election in 2009 and the Galas state by-election in 2010, DAP joined the campaign to show Pakatan’s solidarity even though, like Pengkalan Kubor, the two constituencies have very few Chinese voters.

Although the absence of DAP in the PAS campaign trail will not have an impact on the polls outcome given that there are only 238 Chinese voters in Pengkalan Kubor, it does show the fragility of ties among the Pakatan parties.

The by-election on Sept 25 sees a three-cornered fight among Barisan Nasional’s Mat Razi Mat Ail, PAS candidate Wan Rosdi Wan Ibrahim and an independent Izat Bukhary Ismail Bukhary.