People's Progressive Party president M Kayveas is at it once again.

m kayveas ppp election pc 150208 talk 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.

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.

Members are disappointed

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).

ppp seats 201007 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.

“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.

Give us new seats

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.

m kayveas ppp election pc 150208 absurd “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.

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.

Click here to watch video of the press conference