A fuming Keadilan vice president Azmin Ali today said that he is clearly "fed-up" with the "delaying tactics of DAP", and placed a number of conditions that the latter must meet before Keadilan will even consider going back to the negotiation table to discuss the seat division.

According to Azmin, the suspended seat negotiations between the two parties is "not relevant" to Keadilan's decision to name its own politicians to contest in the constituencies of PJ Utara and Ipoh Timur - of which DAP has traditionally fielded its candidates.

Since DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock had made the decision to halt all negotiations in a letter to Keadilan president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, he said, Keadilan has decided to proceed with its election machinery as the party has "bigger plans" for the upcoming polls.

The on-going dispute between the two parties, if not solved soon, could prove to be very detrimental to the opposition's hope of having a good run in the next general election.

The fall out from the dispute over seat allocations was evident when on Tuesday, to the indignation of DAP, Azmin unilaterally announced Keadilan's move to field its vice-president Tian Chua and supreme council member Dr Lee Boon Chye as opposition candidates for the seats of PJ Utara and Ipoh Timur respectively.

No conditions attached

This opens to the possibility of Keadilan contesting DAP for opposition votes in these areas, effectively failing the 'one-to-one principle' (straight fight with the ruling BN) that both parties had initially agreed to abide by at the start of talks in March.

"If DAP wants to come back to the negotiations table, it is not without conditions on our part," said Azmin who is the chair of Keadilan's elections committee.

"First, since Kerk wrote the letter to our president (to suspend the seat negotiations), he must write back to withdraw his letter. Without that (withdrawal), there is no way that we will talk to DAP,"

"Secondly, as Kerk's remarks against the president was rude and rough, we expect an open apology from him," he said referring to Kerk's statement on Wednesday expressing disappointment with Wan Azizah's earlier comments to malaysiakini .

Kerk had said that the Keadilan president seemed to lack the will to address DAP's concerns over the manner Keadilan leaders have chosen to conduct the negotiation. He has also called on Wan Azizah to direct that her party leaders conduct the seat negotiations with sincerity and in a professional manner, instead of asking DAP to clarify themselves.

"Even if we are a new party, this (comments against Wan Azizah) is too much. We fail to see how such comments (through the media) were helpful to either side," said Azmin.

"Who is Kerk to dictate to Keadilan over how they should respond? Let (the party president) decide when to reply, what to reply, and to whom to reply," he said.

"In fact, many Keadilan leaders have corresponded openly with DAP, so don't dictate that you can only accept a decision from Wan Azizah," he added, pointing out that comments to the media by Keadilan leaders had in fact called on DAP to return to negotiations.

Earlier today, Keadilan vice president and chief negotiator at the seat talks Dr A Xavier Jayakumar has asked Kerk to lead DAP's negotiation team in resuming talks so that important decisions could be made on the spot.

Delaying tactics

The Hulu Kelang state assembly representative said that rather than trying to divert attention from its own internal problems by picking fights with Keadilan, DAP should instead focus on "taking care of their problems first".

"I am fed-up with the delaying tactics of DAP - a mature party, like they said they are, shouldn't have to come up with these statements."

When asked whether his position more or less confirms that Keadilan is ready to break all negotiation ties with DAP, Azmin said: "I have to defend my party. If we want to move forward, we have to stop our party's name from being dragged through the mud."

"Keadilan has bigger plans," he said, adding that by the end of the month, Keadilan will have its party machinery going, starting with the disputed constituencies of PJ Utara and Ipoh Timur.

Azmin's statement on the party's parting ways echoes Kerk's views yesterday when the DAP secretary general said his party may go it alone in the next general election if the seat talks fail to materialise.

"If there is no choice, we will have to go by ourselves," he had said.