DAP's persistence in harping o­n the right to contest its so-called "traditional seats" has irked a senior Keadilan leader.

Keadilan vice-president Azmin Ali said today that DAP should not use the term "traditional seats" as bargaining chips when negotiating for the coming general election.

Azmin, who is the party's election campaign director, said DAP should not be "too emotional nor harp o­n these seats" and should instead consider the factor of winability of the said constituencies.

"What do they mean by traditional seats...by losing all the time? If they keep losing these seats, what's the point of keeping them?" asked the Hulu Kelang state assembly representative.

DAP is expected to fiercely defend its traditional seats in Penang, Federal Territory, Perak and Melaka.

Sunday meeting

About 60 Keadilan leaders nationwide will meet tomorrow (Sunday) in Shah Alam to iron out the party's election strategies.

The meeting will also discuss future cooperation with DAP which left the Barisan Alternatif in September 2001, after failing to resolve the Islamic state issue with PAS.

Leaders are also expected to deliberate o­n the theme and issues for the campaign, including the current Barisan Nasional leadership problem.

According to Azmin, Keadilan is planning to promote jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim as the "best choice" for the next Malaysian leader instead of the present Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had announced he would retire in October and hand over the mantle to Abdullah.

Keadilan members are gearing up for any eventuality of an early election, which is due in 2004, despite Mahathir's announcement that he would not call for elections before his retirement in October.

Meanwhile, Azmin said Keadilan would work out a "non-aggressive" pact with DAP as any disagreement between the two parties would o­nly benefit BN.

By "non-aggressive", Azmin said he meant that the two parties should not "quarrel with each other" over seats.

Listen to people

He cited the Lunas by-election in November 2000, where the two parties squabbled over the candidacy. DAP eventually caved in and the Keadilan candidate wrested the seat from Barisan Nasional.

Azmin said in Lunas, the people wanted a Keadilan candidate and the parties should not go against their wishes.

However, some Keadilan leaders are of the opinion that DAP should approach the BA about seat allocation instead of discussing the issue with Keadilan alone.

Keadilan Youth deputy chief Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who is Lunas state assembly representative, said in a ceramah in Bukit Mertajam last month that DAP should negotiate with BA, which includes PAS and PRM.

"They should respect the spirit of BA as we are a component. We do not accept DAP's divide and rule policy," he told the crowd of some 3,000 people who attended the talk in a Chinese society hall that night.

"If they want to talk about seats, talk to BA as a whole, not just Keadilan," he added.

But Azmin said the call was not practical as seats sought by PAS and DAP were not overlapping.

"They (DAP and PAS) can quarrel as they like as their constituencies would not be affected by each other's criticisms. But Keadilan is different, we are a multi-racial party and we represent all sectors," he said.

"We have to be the mediator. But the most important factor is to look at the winability factor of the seats and this is based o­n facts, figures, sentiments of the people," he added.

Defeat in three-way contests

When contacted, DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock said both parties must "meet and thrash it out".

"Don't just talk about general things. How do you come to an agreement if both sides say they can win the seats?" he argued.

"In Gaya, they thought they would win but see what happened? I am not saying anything but the opposition always loses in three-cornered contests," he said.

Kerk countered Azmin's example of Lunas by posing the recent results of the Gaya (Sabah) parliamentary seat by-election

In last October's by-election, DAP and Keadilan lost to the BN by a whopping majority. However, the DAP candidate managed to garner more votes than Keadilan.

Kerk said there were many factors involved in seat negotiation such as public perception of the parties, local issues, the influence of existing branches and candidates, history of the constituencies and the emotions of the people.

"We have general principles of negotiation, let those be our guide. But we cannot take the attitude that we want to take all [seats during negotiation]," he said.