PKR, DAP tussle over Gelang Patah

Parliamentary seat is rightfully ours and Chua Jui Meng's insistence that PKR contest it is unreasonable, says Johor DAP chief.

PETALING JAYA: Johor DAP chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau today said that seat negotiations with Johor Pakatan has stalled following PKR’s insistence that it contests the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.

Boo said that the DAP was best suited to stand in the seat due to the number of votes the party received in 2008, which was much higher than PKR.

“Statistics showed that combined DAP votes received in Skudai state constituency and PAS in Nusajaya surpassed PKR’s total votes received for Gelang Patah in the 2008 general election.

“Pakatan may have captured the Gelang Patah seat in 2008 if it had been contested by the DAP, instead of PKR,” said Boo, who added that the seat was originally a DAP seat.

“Gelang Patah was contested by the late Abdul Razak Ahmad from PRM in 1995, but he agreed to a rotational arrangement and let DAP contest it in 1999, and it was reverted to PKR in 2004.

“But PKR refused to honour the deal between DAP and the late Razak Ahmad giving the excuse that Razak Ahmad was no longer around to testify to the deal,” he added.

Gelang Patah is made up of 54% Chinese, 12% Indian and 33% Malay voters.

Boo, who is also Skudai assemblyman, said Johor PKR deputy secretary general Steven Choong’s statement that he (Boo) had been rude in his tweets towards PKR, could easily be misinterpreted negatively by anyone not privy to the details of the arrangment.

‘Chua is dictatorial’

The controversy over seat negotiations was sparked off when Boo, in a tweet on Wednesday, said: “We are having problems with PKR – asking more than they can swallow”.

Boo also said that PKR has been harsh in its approach and the state’s chief Chua Jua Meng was resorting to BN-styled racist remarks to run down DAP and wrest Gelang Patah from it.

“Johor PKR under the leadership of Chua Jui Ming has set unreasonable guidelines for seat negotiations.

“He has also been belittling DAP as a Chinese chauvinist party and only fit to contest in Chinese majority seats of over 60% Chinese voters in Johor.

“That means Johor DAP can only contest in two out of six parliamentary seats contested in addition to the Gelang Patah seat, and seven out of 12 state seats previously contested.

“Chua has used the very same racial connotation propagated by Umno mainstream media to judge DAP’s position in Pakatan Rakyat.

He added that Chua’s dictatorial style would only pave the way for BN to fortify their position in Johor.