Pakatan Rakyat will only be formed in Sarawak when talks over seat distribution between the DAP and its partners, PKR, PAS and the Sarawak National Party (Snap) are fully resolved.

State DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng said today the fourth round of the talks would be held by the middle of this month.

"We are taking our time because this is a very serious business. We want to ensure that only the best candidate from the party with the best chance of winning in the constituencies concerned will be fielded to challenge the ruling BN.

"After all, we share the common objective of wanting to deny the BN government the chance to rule the state again after the election," he told reporters in Sibu.

The DAP is eyeing 20, mainly urban and Chinese-majority seats, while PKR has indicated its interest to contest in about 40 out of the total of 71 state constituencies.

Wong said that while the DAP had more or less confirmed contesting in 15 seats, it wanted five more, which PKR also wanted.

"The coming talks will focus on these seats. The DAP has no seat issues with Snap or PAS."

Meanwhile he wanted the state government to explain whether it was Sarawak that had requested for only five per cent oil royalty in the early 1970s or whether it had merely followed the decison made by Sabah.

He said former finance minister Tengku Razaliegh Hamzah had said it was Sarawak that first asked for the amount.

"But a book written by former SUPP (Sarawak United People's Party) president, the late Stephen Yong, said the federal government had managed to get the late Mustapha Harun, who was then Sabah chief minister, to agree to the amount.

"Because of this, the Sarawak government had to follow suit," he said.

Since the two states were likened to being fixed deposits for the federal government, he said, the latter should oblige Sabahans and Sarawakians with at least 20 per cent royalty payment.

He said that if the state Pakatan Rakyat emerged victorious in the coming state election, it would "guarantee increasing the royalty to 20 per cent."

On another issue, Wong said that despite all the negative publicity surrounding PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim and the PKR as a whole, the DAP still regarded him and his party to be a very worthy partner.

- Bernama