DAP will be fielding candidates for the Sungai Siput parliament seat - currently being held by MIC chief and Works Minister S Samy Vellu - forcing a three-corner showdown between the two opposition parties and the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

DAP Perak chief Ngeh Koo Ham said the party "deeply regret" being unable to reach an agreement with yet-to-be-registered Parti Socialis Malaysia (PSM) on the matter, but confirmed that it will field a "senior lawyer" in the parliament seat.

He said his party would also be contesting Jalong - one of the two state seats in the Sungai Siput constituency - and has in mind two ethnic-Chinese candidates for the task.

It is understood that lawyer P Ponmugam - who has made his presence known in the area for about a year - is the DAP choice for Sungai Siput, but this will only be confirmed after the dissolution of the parliament.

Following failed talks between the two last month - PSM wanted rights to both constituencies while DAP wanted to retain the right to continue contesting for Jalong - PSM had on Sunday verbally accepted Keadilan's offer to field its candidates under the latter's banner.

Ngeh said the party could not entertain PSM's demand for Jalong at all, considering that DAP has consistently fielded candidates for the area, and even won the seat in 1990.

"I believe we have been reasonable... by trying to accommodate them, but they have no basis to claim Jalong when we have worked there for 30 years."

Chinese voters

"While we acknowledge the good work by PSM, their influence is only limited to a small community," he said.

There is a significant Chinese majority which PSM have been unable to penetrate, Ngeh said.

And particularly for Jalong, which comprises 58 percent Chinese, he said, these voters have generally supported DAP, who have also consistently fielded Chinese candidates there.

Since both DAP and PSM are similar ideologically, the only practical difference between the two in Jalong is race, he added.

"Like it or not, because of the racial policies imposed by the BN, the voting trend is still very racial."

PSM will be fielding its central committee member and labour activist K Gunasegaran for the Jalong seat. Gerakan's Chang Ko Youn won Jalong in 1999 by a majority of 2,984.

During the negotiations last month, DAP offered to 'loan' its banner to PSM for Sungai Siput, but refused to give in to PSM's demand for Jalong.

As an alternative, the party offered PSM leaders to join DAP if it wanted to run for both seats.

To PSM, neither offer was acceptable, because of the 'considerable' amount of work it has put in championing the housing and land rights of local people, particularly plantation workers in the area.

If a three-corner fight ensues, this may put both opposition in a worse showing than at the last elections.

In the 1999 general election, MIC president S Samy Vellu retained the Sungai Siput parliament seat by beating PSM's Dr D Jeyakumar with a majority of 5,259 out of 46,748 votes.