Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) pro-tem vice-president Dr D Jeyakumar today said he has declined the offer to join DAP and contest under the latter's banner in the coming general election.

The medical doctor, who will be vying for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat in Perak, also called on opposition parties to be united and be clear about their aim.

"We should work towards having more opposition members of Parliament whether it is from PSM, DAP, Keadilan or PAS. (At) the rate we are going, we may end up with lesser seats. It is time for us to wake up and maybe (then) we will have a chance for more support.

"If Barisan Nasional has14 component parties and all (of them) can come to a compromise, why can't we?" he said when contacted.

DAP urged the politician to join the party in order to avoid a three-cornered fight for the seat, which is the traditional stronghold of MIC president S Samy Vellu.

In the 1999 polls, Jeyakumar stood under a DAP ticket but lost the seat to Samy by a margin of 5,259 votes.

DAP's explanation

Meanwhile, Perak DAP chief Ngeh Khoo Ham confirmed that his party had extended an invitation to the PSM leader.

"I told him (Jeyakumar) in view of our party philosophy, we are quite the same. DAP is a social democratic party and PSM is a socialist (party)."

"But PSM is not a registered party, so we asked him to join our party and contest under our ticket. This would be the best way," he told malaysiakini.

(PSM's application to be registered was rejected by the Registrar of Societies due to national security reasons. The matter is now pending in court.)

On the possibility of DAP contesting the Sungai Siput seat, Ngeh said a list of potential candidates have been finalised and is awaiting endorsement from the central executive committee.

"It looks like we may go at it alone, and we must be prepared for the eventuality," he said.

"We are supportive of him (Jeyakumar), but politically, it is difficult for us to explain why the whole party must support an individual. Wouldn't it be easier if the individual supported the party?" he added.

However, it is learned that a DAP candidate has been making his presence known in Sungai Siput over the past year.

"We have not confirmed him as the candidate yet. We want to see his performance and whether he has done any work.

"He is a senior lawyer and has been active and popular in the area," said Ngeh, who refused to divulge more details about this candidate.

'Give us a chance'

Earlier this month, PSM had launched its manifesto and announced that it was planning to contest for two parliamentary and two state seats.

Its pro-tem president Dr Nasir Hashim is expected to stand for the Subang parliamentary seat while K Paneer Selvam and K Kunasekaran will contest the Kota Damansara, Selangor and Jalong, Perak state seats.

In a related development, PSM pro-tem secretary general S Arutchelvan said the party was open to contesting under any opposition ticket.

He said PSM has officially tried to request for a meeting with DAP over this issue but did not receive much feedback.

However, Arutchelvan dismissed the possibility of any PSM candidates joining its opposition counterpart.

"If we wanted to join DAP there would be no PSM, so this is not the issue," he said.

"We are open to contest under the banner of another party. All we are asking is for our candidates to be given a chance (to contest)," he added.