Three DPMs if Pakatan rules?

One will be from Sabah or Sarawak, says Mat Sabu.

TAIPING: Pakatan Rakyat is considering the feasibility of having three deputy prime ministers if it takes Putrajaya in the coming general election, according to PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu.

One of the deputy premiers would be from Sabah or Sarawak, he told FMT after addressing a ceramah on Sunday in Simpang, a few kilometres from here.

“We are still in discussion on this issue and have yet to come to a conclusion,” he added.

According to him, the idea is being discussed in the context of finding ways to place the political representation of the East Malaysian states on equal footing with PAS, DAP and PKR in governing the nation after the 13th general election.

The PAS leader, popularly known as Mat Sabu, said the probability of Pakatan winning the election was becoming greater because more and more voters were becoming aware of the extent of corruption within Barisan Nasional and Umno.

Nevertheless, he added, Pakatan had one great worry—the alleged registration of thousands of foreigners as voters.

Mohamad also claimed that support for BN in Sabah and Sarawak was disintegrating as a result of increased awareness among the people there of their democratic rights.

To prove this, he pointed to the frequency of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s visits to the two states, especially Sabah, where he said the level of alarm over the influx of illegal immigrants had risen since the 2008 election.

He said Pakatan expected to secure at least 10 parliamentary seats in Sarawak and even more in Sabah.

At present BN occupies 25 of the 26 Sarawak parliamentary seats and 30 of Sabah’s 31.

Quality vs quantity

Mohamad said he had suggested to Pakatan that it should accept more election candidates offered by NGOs such as Hindraf and small Pakatan-friendly parties like PSM in order to increase its chances in the coming polls.

“It’s the quality of candidates that count, not the quantity put up by any one party within the coalition,” he said.

In his speech at the Simpang ceramah, Mohamad informed the crowd that the proposed Pakatan gathering on Nov 3 would be held inside either the Bukit Jalil National Stadium or the Merdeka Stadium.

The rally, billed as “People’s Uprising”, is to protest against the government’s refusal to meet the eight core demands of election reform group Bersih.

Bersih and opposition leaders have accused the Election Commission of deliberately dragging its feet in cleaning up discrepancies in the voter rolls as part of a conspiracy to help BN restore its two-third majority in Parliament.

Mohamad said of the Nov 3 rally: “We are following Najib’s advice to hold such protest events within a stadium. But if we are denied this facility, we will take to the streets.

“Then his janji ditepati will be just another janji dicapati.”