Jelapang remains closed to PSM

Perak DAP says it will contest there even if the socialist party becomes a Pakatan member.

PETALING JAYA: Perak DAP has dismissed any possibility that Pakatan Rakyat will let Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) contest in Jelapang even if it becomes a member of the bloc before the general election.

“Pakatan Rakyat has already decided that DAP will contest in Jelapang,” Perak DAP chief Nga Kor Ming told FMT today.

He said PSM must not impose conditions for joining Pakatan. “It should help Pakatan battle BN in the 13th general election,” he added.

PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan announced yesterday that his party had applied to join Pakatan in response to popular demand.

He made the announcement at a press conference attended by several other party leaders, who said seat negotiations with Pakatan were ongoing and that they hoped the bloc would allow PSM to contest the same seats it did in the 12th general election.

In 2008, PSM fought for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat and three state seats—Semenyih and Kota Damansara in Selangor and Jelapang in Perak.

Jelapang saw a three-corner fight between PSM deputy chairman M Sarasvathy, DAP’s Hee Yit Foong and MCA’s Loh Koi Pin.

Hee won the contest, polling 12,219 votes against Loh’s 5,512 and Sarasvathy’s 1,275.

A few months later, Hee quit DAP in a prelude to the ouster of the Pakatan-led Perak government.