Newcomer Keadilan has ruled out the possibility of cooperating with the Abang Abu Bakar team of independent candidates for the upcoming state elections in Sarawak.

Keadilan's Sarawak elections chief Azmin Ali said today his party - which will make its debut in the Sept 27 state poll - was willing to work with anyone against the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition except Abang Abu Bakar.

He said this was due to doubts on Abang Abu Bakar's independence from certain political forces in the ruling coalition.

"Whether Abang Abu is a real oppositionist is the question. We believe he has a strong backing from a federal ruling party," said Azmin.

However, Azmin declined to name the political party which patronises Abang Abu Bakar's candidates.

It is widely speculated that Abang Abu Bakar, who will be fielding 45 candidates, has the firm support of Umno although this has been denied by the Malay-based party which heads the BN coalition.

Abang Abu Bakar has vowed to challenge Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud wherever the ruling Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu's strongman is contesting.

The former PBB deputy leader fell out with Taib after he was dropped from the BN list of candidates for the 1999 general elections.

Taib, a Melanau, recently announced that he would contest in Balingian, a PBB stronghold, instead of the Malay-Muslim majority seat of Asajaya, which he is currently the incumbent.

Abang Abu Bakar, who is a Malay Muslim, is expected to do well in Asajaya. However, it is unclear whether he will contest against Taib in Balingian, a Melanau majority seat.

The eighth Sarawak state election will see a nine-day campaigning period after nomination day on Sept 18.

No joint manifesto

Azmin also told malaysiakini that Keadilan will be contesting in 17 Malay predominant areas, eight Dayak predominant areas and five Chinese predominant areas.

"But we cannot reveal the names of the candidates at present," he said, adding a final decision will be made later at a meeting chaired by party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Meanwhile, DAP Sarawak secretary Chong Chieng Jen said the cooperation between DAP and other opposition parties will be restricted to seat allocation to avoid three-corner fights with BN.

"We will neither be sharing a common manifesto nor the human resources (for election campaigns). All of us are in short of staff," said Chong.

Sarawak DAP pulled out from the Barisan Alternatif opposition coalition at the state level in March due to unresolved issues with Keadilan over the 1999 parliamentary elections and PAS' stand on Islamic state.

Chong also said that DAP has agreed that two of its Chinese-dominated seats, Batu Lintang and Batu Kawal in Kuching, be contested by Keadilan during the elections this time.

On Monday, DAP announced that the it will be fielding 13 candidates and may contest in one or two more constituencies pending a decision on seat allocation by party leaders.

Out of the 13 constituencies, eight of them are Chinese-dominated seats. The party has not yet had any discussions on seat allocation with PAS, the other BA party that is hoping to make its mark in Sarawak.

Record number

On whether DAP would work with Abang Abu Bakar's team, Chong said, it would depend on the former defence minister's political stand.

"We do not understand them (Abang Abu Bakar's political objectives) at all," said Chong, adding that the team of independents have not approached them.

The Elections Commission has announced that 868,487 voters will go to the polls for this state elections to choose 62 representatives to one of the largest state assemblies in the country, an increase of 54,140 voters compared to 1996.

In the last state elections held in 1996, the BN coalition won 58 seats, leaving three for independent candidates and one for DAP.

Of the 58 seats, PBB won 29, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sarawak (SUPP) 14, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) eight and Parti Kebangsaan Sarawak (Snap) seven.

A record number of candidates are expected to contest the coming elections with the inclusion of several opposition parties in the fray such as Keadilan, PAS, DAP, the Sarawak State Reform Party plus Abang Abu Bakar's group of independents.