Commenting on Sarawak DAP Chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s statement that DAP may renege on seat arrangements if PKR does not honour what the parties’ national leadership had decided, political analyst Dr Jeniri Amir said the ongoing dispute between state DAP and PKR leaders was very self-serving.
“How can they get people to believe in them when they are showcasing their inability to compromise?” he told FMT.
He said the dispute was bound to be used as political fodder by the BN and that it was only aiding the coalition.
The Unimas associate professor said Pakatan Harapan should have conducted a survey to find out which coalition party was supported more by the people in disputed seats, and that a multi-cornered fight this time around might help reveal this.
Jeniri also said perhaps Pakatan Harapan should consider getting a local partner in the future as the state BN was using this argument of opposing any West Malaysian-based party, be it from BN or Pakatan Harapan.
For Unimas’ political scientist Dr Andrew Aeria, the issue of multi-cornered fights between the Opposition parties stemmed from poor communication and weak leadership in the state chapters.
He said if politicians wanted to contest under a national coalition, then they should act in a more national-minded way.
He added the Opposition in Sarawak was acting in its own narrow interests rather than adopting a coalition perspective.
Aeria said for future elections, Pakatan Harapan coalition parties should merge under one banner just like what the BN had done.
“The fact that they are still negotiating seats shows the lack of preparation. All the seat allocations should have been finalised a long time ago,” he told FMT.
He also said that component parties should not be making school-boy threats of contesting all seats, even those already decided, simply over unresolved disagreements over two or three seats disputed by both parties
When asked if it would be better for Pakatan Harapan to have a local partner in Sarawak, Aeria disagreed, saying the country needed a two-party system based on economic ideology and policies.
“Parties of the future should be non-racial, non-religious and non-regional.”
Earlier, it was reported that DAP may renege on seat agreements if PKR did the same, with Chong calling on PKR to honour what had been agreed.
Recently, Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian voiced his dissatisfaction that national DAP and PKR leaders, namely DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng and PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali, had strayed from the seat allocations agreed to by the Sarawak DAP and PKR chapters.
Baru had said that he would veto the seat negotiations decided by the national leaders and this was expected to result in multi-cornered fights among BN, DAP, PKR and other candidates in at least five seats.