Pakatan secretariat chief Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah also announced there would be 100 parliamentary coordinator committees to be formed.
“We have resolved most parliamentary seats and now it is the state seats. We’re going into the second stage of negotiations.
“We will settle 100 parliament seats in this month,” he said in a press conference yesterday after the secretariat council meeting.
Saifuddin said seat negotiations were also party-based and not candidate-based, adding there would be new candidates to be revealed only after Parliament was dissolved.
“We are not going into specifics,” he said, adding that the seats were divided among Pakatan’s parties comprising PKR, DAP, Amanah and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia based on their “winnability”.
“We have taken all factors into account.
[...]
Meanwhile in Malaysiakini we read
What has PSM done that's worse than Bersatu's past, asks MP (extracts):
What has PSM done that's worse than Bersatu's past, asks MP (extracts):
Pakatan Harapan may be close to fully resolving the coalition’s seat negotiations but one former comrade-in-arms, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), is none too pleased that it has been left out of the picture.
It is a situation that has left PSM's sole MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj perplexed, given the amount of support the party has given to Harapan components in the past.
"We've been with them in all the major struggles, fighting the goods and services tax (GST), Internal Security Act (ISA)... We are their natural ally.
"If you can include Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), whose leaders you have fought against for so many years, (in your coalition and negotiations) why not PSM?
"What has PSM done that is so much worse that you can't consider working with us in your coalition?"
Indeed, I agree with Dr Jeyakumar so much so I am going to repeat his statement-question here:
"We've been with them in all the major struggles, fighting the goods and services tax (GST), Internal Security Act (ISA)... We are their natural ally.
"If you can include Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), whose leaders you have fought against for so many years, (in your coalition and negotiations) why not PSM?"What has PSM done that is so much worse that you can't consider working with us in your coalition?" ...
"If you can include Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), whose leaders you have fought against for so many years, (in your coalition and negotiations) why not PSM?"What has PSM done that is so much worse that you can't consider working with us in your coalition?" ...
... and answer it as well, wakakaka.
Firstly, Pakatan is sucking up to Mahathir because the coalition believes the Old Man, former Pakatan foe, draconian ketuanan dictator and profligate wastrel of our resources as he might have been, can deliver the necessary Malay votes to enable Pakatan to form the next federal government ...
... whereas PSM can't and not only can't but will be depriving them of a few seats as well.
Ugly? Politics is dirty and nothing is more dirty than the current situation when there are fantasies of avarice floating around the Pakatan mob.
Thus to/for them (the earlier Pakatan mob of PKR and DAP), it's an easy case of f**k friendship and political-ideological fraternity.
Yes, Pribumi is vile, racist and, like PKR once was (perhaps still is, wakakaka), a single-issue political party.
Worse, Pribumi is headed by a man PKR and DAP have surrendered Pakatan leadership to, which has been why it's Mahathir who decides Pakatan would not cooperate with PAS (mind you, not that many Pakatan supporters like me would want that too).
But in the end I believe DAP will come to its senses not to contest in Sungai Siput and probably lend its considerable support to Dr Jeya.
But before I continue I wish to remind PSM of one issue it might have forgotten. You guys used the DAP and pKR logos previously because RoS did NOT approve yours - Malay-dom has a fear of socialist-communist like symbols.
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PSM did not choose its party logo well it might have been cute in a Western World but in a Malay World it smacks of the dreaded communists |
Please don't blame Pakatan for forcing you to use theirs when they had been generous to lend you its respective use. Now, RoS has approved your party logo, go ahead and use it.
Continuing on Sungai Siput and other Perak state seats, there are pre-conditions for PSM, namely, to negotiate with DAP on those DAP-held seats in Perak PSM wishes to contest in.
For a start, expecting the DAP to 'surrender' those state seats to PSM when it's their stronghold and which may interfere with DAP's current intention to regain the state of Perak, is one hell of a big ask!
Take Jelapang for example - how did PSM fared in the 2013 state elections in what was a sad 3-corner fight there. Let me refresh PSM's recall:
Jelapang in the 2013 state elections held a registered voter population of 7% Malays: 68% Chinese: 25% Indians.
But it is still a DAP stronghold which will be vital to its aim to re-capture Perak. Just because PSM candidate Saras (Sarasvathy Muthu) has been investing considerable work there does NOT mean she was/is entitled to be given the seat by the DAP. It's not as if Jelapang became a DAP stronghold without the party doing good work there as well.
Thus PSM cannot argue on the basis of its work in certain constituencies that it should be entitled to stand in some state seats in straight fights with the BN without Pakatan (DAP) interfering in 3-corner fights.
Now, please review some 2013 statistics and FACTS: In that 3-corner fight in 2013 general election (BN, PSM, DAP), PSM came out last. It couldn't even better the BN candidate's performance.
DAP (Teh Hock Ke) won 68.9% of the votes, BN 18.9% and PSM only 10.4%.
As I mentioned, PSM for all her party's Indian-ness (which was/is an unfortunate image), Saras couldn't even marshal together a decent proportion of the 25% Indian votes in Jelapang.
Yet PSM obdurately stood in a DAP stronghold and presumably still wants to stand in Jelapang again in GE-14.
Only PSM diehards appreciate the good work PSM has invested there but alas, I doubt the majority of voters (68% Chinese) do. We Malaysians vote along racial lines because we are intrinsic racists.
And that could explain why BN performed better there in 2013 than hardworking Saras of PSM - BN won twice more of votes than PSM. Had DAP given way to PSM in 2013, BN would have won Jelapang.
It's sad that the DAP in its ambition to re-capture Perak will dismiss PSM's wish to contest there, but then again, PSM's argument that it has invested much hard work will fall on deaf ambitious ears.
It's sad that the DAP in its ambition to re-capture Perak will dismiss PSM's wish to contest there, but then again, PSM's argument that it has invested much hard work will fall on deaf ambitious ears.
If PSM were to insist on re-contesting in Jelapang come GE-14, then it has to expect DAP doing likewise in Sungai Siput.
I'm afraid PSM is too small a party and too late in Malaysian political life to have much of a role, much as PSM is a bunch of good hardworking people.
My advice in an earlier post Indians vis-a-vis GE-14 was for PSM to be patient and wait to emerge as a new multi-racial Socialist Front (Goo T'au Tong), perhaps in GE-15 or later.
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Socialist Front, an early Malayan multi-racial party Boestaman's Parti Rakyat kerbau plus Labour Party's symbol (see below) |
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Labour Party |
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Tan Sri Dr Tan Chee Khoon Labour Party's early stalwart but respected even by UMNO subsequently was a founding father of Gerakan Party his son Tan Kee Kwong was formerly Gerakan MP for Segambut but is now PKR MP for Wangsa Maju |
But I doubt PSM will be patient.
My other advice was for PSM not to be too 'Indian' like MIC, myPPP or Hindraf. As I also said, no wholely Indian based party has ever succeeded big in Malaysia - even the MIC has to walk under the umbrella of BN.
Perhaps given the unlikelihood of PSM as a party being patient (untuil when?), maybe it'll better for PSM to merge with the DAP who has in its entire existence look after Indians well - considering it started 'life' with an Indian head.
To end this post, I have two other issues, namely:
(a) where's Hindraf in Pakatan's seat deliberations or will Waythamoorthy be satisfied with sucking, and
(b) what is the DAP doing about its vital CEC re-elections when GE-14 could be as near as October. Don't fall into the trap of monkeying around with RoS' cold-shouldering tactics.
I distinctly remember PSM announce quite some time ago that it will put up candidates wherever the party chooses to, including existing DAP and PKR contested seats.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of announcement effectively amounts to burning bridges. A bit late to complaint about being left out of seat negotiations.
Anyway, the Developers Alliance Party is very far from being a socialist party these days.
No need to dump all the blame on Lim Kit Siang.
That's mostly the Penang party's positioning.
I agree with Monsterball. By its morerecent actions, DAP has shown itself to be "democratic socialist" only in name. This can be seen in the Penang State government's inaction despite complaints over that polluting factory in mainland Penang.
ReplyDeleteA truly democratic socialist party will proactively act against such factories in favour of the people but it looks like the interests of the capitalists are more important to the DAP.
A truly social democratic party will address the problem of high property prices and high rentals in Penang which are beyond the reach of most Penang-lang or Malaysians but what has the DAP led State Government of Penang done with regards high property prices and high rentals - none, as far as I know.
A trully social democratic government would protect and preserve the ecology and the enviroment but what has the DAP-led State Government of Penang done to curb the rape of the hillsides and plunder of natural beach fronts by property developers for the enjoyment and benefit of the privileged elite.
Thus "DAP" rightly stands for "Developers' Action Party" because that what the party has morphed into today.
Basically put, the DAP represents the politico-economic interests of a certain section of the Malaysian capitalist class, in this case mostly a section of the Chinese-Malaysian capitalist class; just as UMNO represents the politico-economic interests of a certain section of the Malay-Malaysian capitalist class, whilst PKR and PAS respectively represent the politico-economic interests of their respective sections of the Malay-Malaysian capitalist class.
Bourgeois (capitalist) politics is a clash of the politico-economic interests of different competing sections of the capitalists who tout their intentions as being in the "interests of us the people", when in reality, we are mere pawns to be deluded and fooled into supporting their objectives by electing them into office, only to be discarded like used toilet tissue, once we are no longer needed.
As for the PSM, whilst they can work with the Pakatan parties achieve certain objectives, however they should remain politically and ideologically independent of the Pakatan.
As for their logo - their current logo that is - some say it looks like that used by OTPOR, the Serbian NGO which has received funding from the US-imperialist National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute and USAID.
On the other hand, I recall seeing that fist logo used by the Socialist Club at University of Malaya in the early 1970s, long before OTPOR was founded.
That said, a more creative logo might be one which features a farmer's hat, an industrial workers hardhat and a university graduate's mortar board to symbolise the unity between the smallholding farmers, the proletariat and the intelligentsia.