DAP said it will definitely field a candidate in the upcoming Ketari by-elections for the state assembly seat which was left vacant with the passing away of its representative, Gerakans Loke Koon Kam, 60, on Sunday. That is certain. But I will only elaborate further after the funeral as a mark of respect to the deceaseds family, DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock said today.

Meanwhile, Gerakan secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye said the party would only start planning its next move after Lokes funeral.

We will only start thinking about this after the funeral is conducted, Chia said when contacted.

A by-election must be held within 60 days after a seat has been declared vacant by the Election Commission. As of 1999, the total number of voters stood at 16,663, comprising 9,473 Chinese Malaysians, 6,110 Malay Malaysians, 751 Indian Malaysians and 329 other Malaysians.

In the 1999 general elections, Gerakan beat the then DAP candidate, Chong Siew Onn, by a narrow majority of 231 votes.

Anything is possible

Keadilan, DAPs ally before the party left the opposition front, also hinted today that it might contest the by-election by fielding a Malay Malaysian candidate in Ketari.

Anything is possible in politics, said Keadilan deputy president Abdul Rahman Othman at the party headquarters in Petaling Jaya today, after calling for a ban on race-based political parties.

He said this in response to a question on what practical steps can be taken to ensure race-based parties are a thing of the past.

We have to start somewhere. Maybe we will start in Ketari (which is known to be a Chinese-majority area). After all, that was done in Lunas, Abdul Rahman said.

The Kedah constituency had been an MIC stronghold until Keadilans candidate Saifuddin Nasution Ismail defeated the Barisan Nasional candidate S Anthonysamy in September 2000.

Earlier, Abdul Rahman told journalists that Pahang Keadilan will meet this Saturday to discuss its next step with regard to the vacant Ketari seat.

We at the party level await their decision and report about the matter. The final decision to contest the seat will be made at the Barisan Alternatif (BA) level, he said.

As to the possible issue of a three-cornered fight emerging, Abdul Rahman said that that would only become an issue if we decide to enter the contest.

PAS to give way

PAS party organ Harakah meanwhile reported today that the party was willing to give way to DAP to contest in Ketari, subject to prior approval from the BA supreme council which will meet soon.

The party's Pahang elections director Dr Abdul Wahab Ismail was quoted as saying that the Chinese community in Pahang needed another Chinese Malaysian opposition representative to serve them.

At present the other Chinese Malaysian opposition representative is DAP's Leong Ngah Ngah who is the assemblyperson for Triang.

Loke was Gerakan's sole representative in Pahang and was also the former Pahang Gerakan chairperson and Bentong division chief. He is survived by his wife, Alice Tan Pek Yee, and two sons  Andrew Loke Kar Leong, 25, and Stephen Loke Kar Soon, 19. The funeral will be held tomorrow at 10am in Sungai Marang, Bentong.