PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang: Conflicting claims with SNAP.
The opposition force in Sarawak crumbled today as Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) key party PKR turned around to blame SNAP for its failed talks on seat allocation and denounced its partnership with the Sarawak-based party for the April 16 state election.
PKR also continued to accuse SNAP of being in cahoots with its Barisan Nasional (BN) foes, and alleged that the ruling coalition had likely been the ones to orchestrate the impasse.
In a statement today, PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang refuted yesterday’s remarks from SNAP, or the Sarawak National Party, blaming PKR for failing to respond to its requests on the distribution of seats.
Instead, Chua claimed that it was SNAP that had continually ignored PKR’s efforts to reach a compromise.
“We report with deep regret that our efforts to reach an electoral pact with SNAP for the Sarawak state elections have been continually frustrated,” he said.
“SNAP’s latest statement accusing PKR of being slow in pursuing seat negotiations are untrue and meant to mislead the public. On the contrary, numerous letters and messages sent to SNAP leaders were met with no reply whatsoever.”
Chua’s statement is in clear contradiction of SNAP president Edwin Dundang’s complaint yesterday that talks on seat distribution had broken down as it was PKR that had failed to commence any form of negotiation to resolve the dispute.
“SNAP expresses its regret that till today, three days before nomination day, PKR has not commenced negotiations with us on overlapping seats which they may or may not have with the seats for which we had announced our intention to run,” Dundang had said in a statement.
“PKR has been given our total list with names of candidates and constituencies but till today, we have not received their list, which makes it impossible for any negotiations to be pursued.”
This had forced SNAP to put its foot down in the row by confirming that it would go ahead and field 27 candidates for the polls, Dundang said.
Chua denied this. He accused SNAP of being insincere in its intention to join PR to strengthen the opposition force in Sarawak.
“Our patience with SNAP was based on the spirit of solidarity embodied in the PR coalition,” said Chua. “We had earnestly hoped that SNAP could have been a key partner of PR in Sarawak.”
He said PKR, while acknowledging SNAP’s position as the oldest party in Sarawak, representing the Dayaks, its cooperation with PR would also help the Sarawak-based party regain its leading position in state politics.
“Nonetheless, SNAP’s unbending insistence on contesting no less than 27 seats of their choice forced an impasse. Our attempt to discuss seat allocations by comparing the winnability of respective candidates and relative strength of electoral machinery was rejected out of hand,” he said.
Chua said that if SNAP had no intention to compromise with PKR, then a partnership with PR could not be fostered.
“We had hoped that SNAP would be willing to walk together with us and be part of PR’s struggle for justice in both Sarawak and the rest of Malaysia.
“But if they have chosen to put other priorities first, and have no interest in reaching any compromise, we can only part ways amicably and wish them the best in their endeavours,” he said.
Chua also spoke of PKR’ suspicion that BN had masterminded the impasse with SNAP, to split the opposition vote in Sarawak.
“While PKR has had every intent to forge a viable opposition front to ensure one-to-one fights in every seat, it would appear that peninsular-based forces that have long sought to subvert and break up the PR coalition have once again successfully orchestrated the current impasse,” he said.
Despite this, Chua said PKR had decided to “give way” to several SNAP candidates in overlapping seats, to avoid three-cornered fights.
“Although SNAP refuses to commit to a united opposition against (Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul) Taib (Mahmud) and BN, the door of cooperation remains open,” he said.
“As a sign of good will and good faith, PKR has taken a leap and decided to unilaterally give way to several SNAP candidates, in the hope that this will help dislodge BN from even more seats.”
The Batu MP did not offer further details, but said this was a sign of PR’s commitment to remove Taib and the BN government’s control over the resource-rich state.
Both SNAP and PKR have been at loggerheads over the distribution of seats as SNAP is upset that the national-based PKR wants to grab the lion’s share in the 71-seat Sarawak assembly.
PKR had initially been locked in a tussle with its PR partner DAP over several overlapping seats but following intense negotiations, DAP relented and agreed to contest in just 15 constituencies instead of the 18 it had originally requested.
PAS will contest five seats.
Announcing this earlier this week, de facto PKR and PR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that while discussions with DAP had concluded, negotiation with SNAP had only just begun.
He also claimed that PKR had confirmed its contest in 24 seats and SNAP in four seats.
PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, who had earlier said that SNAP should only field candidates in three seats, then said that the remaining 23 seats would only be decided on following further negotiation with SNAP.
It had been reported that the parties planned to only conclude the seat arrangements tomorrow.
