Top leaders of the opposition Barisan Alternatif coalition have decided to retract their offer to help former ally DAP in the upcoming Ketari state by-election.

BA is believed to be upset over DAPs latest decision to give a verbal  not written  invitation to the opposition coalition to help in the campaigning.

It was learnt that the DAPs central executive committee had backtracked on its earlier decision to issue an official invitation at a meeting between the top guns of DAP and BA in Kuala Lumpur two days ago.

A party source informed malaysiakini that DAP had decided to issue only a verbal invitation instead of an official letter.

The decision peeved the BA top leadership who felt DAP was not being sincere and committed in wanting the opposition fronts assistance in the eight-day campaign which is to end on March 31, polling day.

They want us to help but they are not willing to commit themselves to the decision. We feel they are not sincere in this matter, the source said.

Even DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang did not attend the meeting but send his subordinates such as secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock to meet with BA top leaders, the source lamented.

In next Sundays Ketari by-election, DAPs Choong Siew Onn will be contesting against BNs Gerakan candidate Yum Ah Ha.

The seat fell vacant following the death of Loke Koon Kam of Gerakan. In the 1999 general elections, Loke defeated Choong with a slim 231-vote majority, garnering 5,874 votes.

There was an absence of BA leaders and the opposition coalitions flags and banners at the nomination centre in Ketari yesterday although a few lower-ranking Keadilan leaders were spotted in the 300-odd DAP crowd.

No definite visit plan

When contacted, Keadilan president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said that the partys state branch in Pahang will assist the DAP but she had no definite plans to visit the area yet.

Pahang Keadilan information bureau chief Jefri B Rashid confirmed that the partys grassroots in Ketari will focus on the Malay-dominated areas such as Mempaga, a Felda scheme which has only three Chinese voters out of 1,966 voters.

We hold on to the belief that Barisan Nasional is our common enemy, Jefri told malaysiakini , adding that PAS members will also join the campaigning.

Despite not getting an official invitation from DAP central executive committee, we at state level are going ahead with the campaign as our relationship here (with DAP) is different of that from the central leadership, he added.

Relations between DAP and its former partners in BA have cooled with heated words occasionally exchanged since the party quit the opposition pact last September.

DAPs boycott of the campaigning in the Indera Kayangan by-election two months ago where Keadilan lost to BNs MCA also dampened the cordiality.

Judging by the results of Ketaris 10 polling stations in the past two polls, Gerakans tissue-thin majority of 231 in 1999 compared with its 2,900 majority in 1995 was mainly due to a significant desertion of Malay Malaysian voters from Barisan Nasional.

Vulnerable areas

In 1999 when the reformasi movement was still gathering momentum, DAP improved its tally dramatically in Ketaris three Malay-majority areas  Janda Baik, Berus and Mempaga.

Most vulnerable is Mempaga, a former BN stronghold. The DAP has stationed two of its strongmen  Lim Guan Eng and Nibong Tebal member of Parliament Goh Kheng Huat  to campaign in the area.

Hatta Ramli, political secretary to PAS president Fadzil Noor told malaysiakini that PAS members in Pahang are helping the DAP in the campaign albeit on a low profile.

We need to be there to secure the Malay votes, he said.

PRM Pahang leader Dzulklifi Ismail was however more forthright in his reaction to DAPs decision not to send an official invitation.

We have principles, too. There is no official invitation, we will not help. If they lose, they will blame it on us and say PRM is a communist party, he said.