BA top guns may go to Ketari to support DAP
Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today did not rule out the possibility of going to Ketari to lend support to DAPs candidate Choong Siew Onn in the upcoming state seat by-elections.
We are going to help, and if possible, I will be going there, she told malaysiakini today.
However, she could not state when that might be as that would depend on her schedule.
PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali, when contacted, said the BA leaders will be going to Ketari, but was circumspect about who the leaders are and when they would go.
There is a plan to go there and you can expect to see some of the BA leaders there very soon, Syed Husin said.
We will be assisting the DAP in certain areas and there will be emphasis on house-to-house campaigns as well as ceramah (public lectures), he said.
Relations between DAP and BA have been frosty after the former broke from the coalition following an impasse between DAP and PAS over the Islamic state issue.
A high-level party source from Keadilan also revealed that the BA election machinery is already in full swing to support DAPs fight against the ruling Barisan Nasional for the Ketari state seat, which will culminate with polling this Sunday.
According to the insider, although both DAP and the BA are facing frosty relations at the national level, things are far warmer at state level.
We have certain technical issues to iron out at the national level, but at the state level everything is in full swing. At the national level things are just like a sandiwara (charade), the source said.
We are working very closely at the state level and we are doing this in the spirit of toppling the BN government.
Mere cosmetics
As to whether the national leaders will be going to Ketari, the source said state-level operations were more important and the presence of the national leaders will only be for cosmetics .
Keadilan and PAS are already helping to campaign in the (Malay-majority) areas of Mempaga, Janda Baik, Benus and Ketari Baru, the source said.
We are going to help, and if possible, I will be going there, she told malaysiakini today.
However, she could not state when that might be as that would depend on her schedule.
PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali, when contacted, said the BA leaders will be going to Ketari, but was circumspect about who the leaders are and when they would go.
There is a plan to go there and you can expect to see some of the BA leaders there very soon, Syed Husin said.
We will be assisting the DAP in certain areas and there will be emphasis on house-to-house campaigns as well as ceramah (public lectures), he said.
Relations between DAP and BA have been frosty after the former broke from the coalition following an impasse between DAP and PAS over the Islamic state issue.
A high-level party source from Keadilan also revealed that the BA election machinery is already in full swing to support DAPs fight against the ruling Barisan Nasional for the Ketari state seat, which will culminate with polling this Sunday.
According to the insider, although both DAP and the BA are facing frosty relations at the national level, things are far warmer at state level.
We have certain technical issues to iron out at the national level, but at the state level everything is in full swing. At the national level things are just like a sandiwara (charade), the source said.
We are working very closely at the state level and we are doing this in the spirit of toppling the BN government.
Mere cosmetics
As to whether the national leaders will be going to Ketari, the source said state-level operations were more important and the presence of the national leaders will only be for cosmetics .
Keadilan and PAS are already helping to campaign in the (Malay-majority) areas of Mempaga, Janda Baik, Benus and Ketari Baru, the source said.
Information made available to malaysiakini showed that though having lost to the BN in the 1999 elections, the DAP saw a surge in votes from 20 (in 1995) to 176 (1999) for Janda Baik; from 71 (1995) to 368 (1999) for Benus; and 10 (1995) to 545 (1999) for Mempaga.
The by-election contest will pit lawyer Yum Ah Ha, 51, from Gerakan against quality controller Choong, 34.
The seat fell vacant following the death of Loke Koon Kam of Gerakan. In the 1999 general elections, Loke defeated Choong with a slim 231-vote majority, garnering 5,874 votes.
