source<\/a><\/p>\nKUALA LUMPUR: The PPP hopes to get a reply next week from the MCA, MIC and Gerakan on the seats the party held prior to it joining the coalition in 1972. The seats involved the MCA (two parliamentary and seven state), Gerakan (one and three) and MIC (one state seat). “We don’t mind getting a yes or no answer as long as we have an official reply. “I hope that the leaders of the three parties act as gentlemen and give back our seats.<\/p>\n
“We don’t mind being given other seats, even in opposition-held areas, because PPP was in the opposition then. “I hope we can get a good answer by next week, so we can go to the next step,” PPP president Datuk M. Kayveas told reporters after chairing the party meeting here yesterday.<\/p>\n
He said there was an understanding between then PPP president the late Datuk Seri S.P. Seenivasagam and the then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak – that PPP would retain the seats as a Barisan partner when it joined the coalition.<\/p>\n
Asked why he did not raise the matter at yesterday’s Barisan meeting, Kayveas said it only involved the three parties. He added that so far, the PPP was only given the Taiping parliamentary seat and Kota Alam Shah state seat in a swap with Umno.<\/p>\n
In Muar, Johor PPP executive committee member Samuel Abraham hoped the party would be allocated one state seat. “Despite being a strong ally, PPP leaders in the state have yet to be given opportunities to contest in any state or parliamentary seat.”We want to share Barisan’s responsibility in helping the people and bringing the multiracial society a lot closer,” he said yesterday.<\/p>\n
‘Be gentlemen and return our seats’<\/p>\n
http:\/\/malaysiakini.com\/news\/78093
\nSyed Jaymal Zahiid | Feb 15, 08 12:18pm<\/p>\n
People’s Progressive Party president M Kayveas is at it once again. Immediately after Barisan Nasional’s decision yesterday to maintain the status quo in the allocation of seats among component parties, Kayveas called for an urgent press conference to list out his party’s demands. He wanted MCA, Gerakan and MIC to return seats which he said were traditionally PPP’s. That translates to four parliamentary and 14 state seats.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, after the BN council meeting, the coalition’s chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that all parties had agreed – without raising any objections – to maintain the seats allocated to as in the 2004 general election. That means PPP would be getting one parliamentary seat and one state seat – expected to be Taiping, of which Kayveas is the uncumbent and Pasir Bedamar in Perak. Kayveas however was unhappy with the way his party was treated by the other coalition members, especially Gerakan, MCA and MIC, in seat negotiations. “You never include us in any negotiations about seat allocations. So we sincerely request that all seats that have been given out to these three parties be returned,” he said at the press conference held at the Putra World Trade Centre. According to him, four Parliament seats and 14 state seats belonging to the party have been slowly taken away from it and given to other parties in BN.<\/p>\n
Members are disappointed<\/p>\n
The Parliament seats which Kayveas wants back are Beruas (now held by Gerakan), Ipoh Barat (to be contested by MCA), Mengelembu (held by MCA) and Ulu Kinta (held by Umno). As for the state seats, they are Jalong, Pantai Remis, Buntong, Canning, Pasir Pinji, Tebing Tinggi, Manjoi, Simpang Pulai, Jelapang, Teja, Sungkai and Kota Alam Shah. Of these seats, two are held by Gerakan, one by Umno, one by MIC and the rest by MCA. “Members of the party are a bit disappointed about the seat allocations negotiations. They promised us more seats but no meeting has so far taken place with regards to this,” he said. The request for the seats to be returned is not a new issue, said Kayveas. He said the party has sent out letters to leaders of other component parties last March but has yet to receive a reply.\u00a0 “Just give us an answer. Even if its negative or positive, we just want an answer so we can plan what to do next,” he said. “If they are sincere about unity and cooperation, something they have been very loud about, be gentlemen and just return our seats,” he added.<\/p>\n
Give us new seats<\/p>\n
The PPP number one was also willing to make a compromise stating that if other component parties do not want to return the seats, they can swap with new seats. “In our letter, we have suggested that they give us the seats which they find difficult to win and we will gladly accept it and try to win it for BN,” said Kayveas. When asked if it the request indicated a split in ranks between them and other component parties, Kayveas said that there was none.\u00a0 “It has nothing to do with that. The issue is between PPP and Gerakan, MCA and MIC. Umno have given back our seats (Taiping and Kota Alam Shah) so we have no qualms with them. “So it is not about BN as a party. We don’t need to drag the BN chairperson or categorise it as a BN issue,” stressed the PPP president.<\/p>\n
He also said that there was no way that he would contest under a different seat other than his current one (Taiping parliamentary seat) saying that he “would quit politics before doing so.” Kayveas’ request for more seats has seen him entangled in a bitter war of words with coalition partners Gerakan and MIC.His party has also received an open rebuke from Umno vice-president Mohd Ali Rustam who said that PPP was free to leave the coalition if it felt it was being unfairly treated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PPP has been trying for so long to get back some seats and regain its status. But for sure non of the parties will be willing to give back the seats. Only UMNO which has too many seats can do they, but of course it won’t. So, we can see PPP begging, threatening, cajoling, crying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[130,225,120],"class_list":["post-1314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borninmalaysia","tag-election-2008","tag-politicians","tag-ppp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}