It is almost certain that Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat will fail to meet its two-week deadline expiring tomorrow, to finalise seat allocations for the coming state election.

NONE State PKR chief Baru Bian ( right ) told Malaysiakini that his party is still in negotiations with Sarawak National Party (Snap) and expressed confidence that the two parties will come to a consensus later next week.

“I don’t think there is a problem,” said Bian, who’s party has been called a bully by Snap leaders in recent weeks.

    

Repeated attempts to contact Snap president Edwin Dundang and secretary-general Stanley Jugol for comments have been futile.

Bian said that he has met Snap leaders yesterday for an unofficial meeting. He said the Snap leaders have requested more time to confer with its leadership.

“I did invite them for lunch today, but they said there was no need... I’ll leave it to them to (decide when to) get back to us,” said Bian.

NONE On negotiations with DAP, Bian said that Sarawak PKR is currently waiting for feedback from the party’s headquarters and expressed that seat allocations between the two parties would be concluded soon.

Sarawak DAP chief Wong Ho Leng ( left ) was also upbeat about seat allocation talks despite the failure to meet the deadline tomorrow.

To a question, Wong said that Sarawak Pakatan has never promised that there would be a formal announcement on seat allocation numbers.

However, he expects Pakatan to come up with a joint manifesto after the nomination process.

The deadline for seat negotiations was set during a March 6 meeting amongst representatives of DAP, PAS, PKR and Snap.

Where does Snap stand?

Snap, however, has been particularly critical of PKR, accusing them of bullying tactics and a lack of respect towards them. PKR is claiming the lions share of the Dayak-majority seats, which is Snap’s traditional proving grounds.

NONE Snap is the oldest political party in Sarawak that had produced the state’s first chief minister.

However, an internal party squabble almost caused their deregistration in 2002, and Snap only got its head above water last year after winning a long court battle with the Registrar of Societies.

The party had joined Pakatan last year but in recent weeks, its commitment towards the coalition has been unpredictable.

Dundang ( right ) had called PKR erratic and had threatened to pull out of the coalition but just a day later, Jugol proclaimed that Snap will “ sink and swim ” with PKR.

Dundang then lashed out at PKR again on Tuesday, calling the party “arrogant”, and unilaterally announcing Snap’s 16 of the 40 seats that it is claiming ahead of other parties.

 

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