Kedah PKR says no to DAP’s extra seats bid

Kedah DAP wants PKR to surrender two parliamentary and six state seats but its proposal has been rejected outright.

ALOR STAR: The tussle for seats has begun. The Kedah DAP has requested for two parliamentary and six states seats for the coming general election.

The Kedah DAP, which now has only one state seat, has requested its Pakatan Rakyat ally PKR to surrender some of its seats but PKR has rejected DAP’s proposal.

The Pakatan state government deliberated on DAP proposal and rejected it and the state DAP is appealing to the party leadership to step in.

DAP state chief Lee Guan Aik (photo, below) said the national party leadership would bring up the state’s request at the Pakatan presidential council for a decision.

Lee said the state DAP made the request just so it could have a bigger say in the state government.

“Reputation-wise, we believe DAP has a better chance of winning. But we will leave it to the national DAP and PKR leaders to sort it out ,” Lee told FMT.

DAP is asking for the federal seats of Padang Serai and Alor Star and the six state seats they want are Kota Darulaman and Bakar Bata (Alor Star), Lunas (Padang Serai), Gurun (Jerai), Bakar Arang (Sungai Petani) and Derga (Pokok Sena).

MCA’s Chor Chee Heung is now Alor Star MP, Umno’s Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah is Bakar Bata representative while Gurun assemblyman is MCA’s Dr Leong Yong Kong.

In the March 8, 2008 general election, DAP contested only two state seats, Kota Darulaman and Derga.

Lee won Kota Darulaman, securing 5,415 votes to see off BN man Chong Itt Chew of MCA, who received 4,611 votes.

But DAP lost in Derga in an unexpected three-cornered fight with Barisan Nasional and PKR.

BN candidate and Kedah Gerakan chief Dr Cheah Soon Hoi got 6,516 votes to win against nearest rival Cheung Khai Yan of PKR with 6,353 votes. DAP’s Teoh Teik Guan came a distant third with 2,095 votes.

Avoiding three-cornered fights

The state Pakatan has reached a consensus to avoid three-cornered fights involving its allies in the next election.

PKR contested in seven federal and 10 state seats in 2008. It won five parliamentary constituencies in Sungai Petani, Padang Serai, Kulim-Bandar Baharu, Merbok and Kuala Kedah, and only four state seats of Bakar Arang, Sidam, Lunas and Kulim.

After the election, Bukit Selambau independent state assemblyman, V Arumugam, joined PKR.

He later resigned to pave the way for a by-election on April 7, 2009, which PKR newcomer S Manikumar won.

Manikumar, who is Kedah PKR vice-chairman, insisted that the state PKR wanted to maintain the 2008 status quo in an electoral arrangement.

“We too want a stronger presence in Kedah .We don’t want to ask seats from anyone.We want to contest and win our seats,” he told FMT.

Last year, PKR suffered a setback when its assemblymen for Bakar Arang, Tan Wei Shu, and Lunas’s Mohd Razhi Salleh, and parliamentarians N Gobalakrishnan of Padang Serai and Zulkifli Nordin of Kulim (Bandar Baharu) became BN-friendly independents.

Observers believed that the lack of discipline among elected representatives has dented PKR’s public image.

Lee said the DAP wanted to contest in the constituencies it has requested for because the party has a strong presence in these constituencies.

After the 2008 election, DAP branches and membership in Kedah, especially in the north, have increased by 20 times.

Moreover, Lee said Kedah DAP was expecting to gain from the spillover effect from the reputation of DAP-led government in neighbouring Penang.