No way PKR, DAP will give BN any KL seats, says analyst

James Chin dashes BN’s hopes of contesting five seats in the federal territories, saying PKR and DAP would never give up their urban strongholds.

(FMT) – PKR and the DAP will never give any of their seats in Kuala Lumpur to the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election (GE16), says an analyst.

James Chin of the University of Tasmania said BN’s goal of contesting five seats in the Federal Territories was simply a wish list, which he believed “nobody will take seriously”.

“There is no way that PKR or DAP would give any of their seats (in KL) to Umno for the very simple reason that this is their core area, the urban areas.

“There is no way they would give in to Umno. Umno is there to fight for rural, Malay-majority seats. They really can’t demand for seats in urban areas,” he told FMT.

Chin said another factor that would prevent the Pakatan Harapan (PH) components from making way for BN was the uncertainty that the latter could win these seats at the polls.

“Urban areas are mostly PH strongholds, so there’s no reason to give seats to them,” he said.

On Sunday, BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi expressed hope that the coalition could expand its presence in the federal territories by contesting five parliamentary seats in the next general election.

Perikatan Nasional won the Labuan and Putrajaya seats in the last general election, while Umno vice-president Johari Ghani won BN’s sole FT seat in Titiwangsa. The other 10 FT seats, located in KL, have been held by PKR and DAP for multiple terms now.

PKR holds the Batu, Wangsa Maju, Setiawangsa, Lembah Pantai and Bandar Tun Razak seats, and DAP the Kepong, Segambut, Bukit Bintang, Seputeh and Cheras seats.

Several PKR and DAP bigwigs hold these seats, namely communications minister Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai), youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh (Segambut) and natural resources and environmental sustainability minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (Setiawangsa).

Others include veterans like ex-PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Bandar Tun Razak), DAP advisor Tan Kok Wai (Cheras), DAP vice-chairman Teresa Kok (Seputeh), DAP treasurer Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang) and four-term MP Lim Lip Eng (Kepong).

Universiti Malaya’s Awang Azman Pawi said Zahid’s statement showed BN’s wish to solidify its position in urban constituencies instead of just urban areas, though it is essentially at the mercy of DAP and PKR.

However, he believes that PKR and DAP could agree to give away two seats to BN, if the latter were to give PH other seats. “This will require both sides to reach a compromise during internal talks,” he added.

He said BN’s five-seat goal was realistic given that Umno dominated in urban areas too, once upon a time.

“Focusing on urban areas would also reflect BN’s effort to approach urban voters and understand their needs, in line with the unity government’s aspirations to ensure political stability and national development,” he added.