Keadilan and its former Barisan Alternatif ally DAP started negotiations o­n seat allocations for the next general election yesterday but differences are already showing.

Although both parties say the move is in the right direction to consolidate their chances against Barisan Nasional, they appear to disagree o­n how long the negotiations should take place.

When contacted today, DAP national publicity chief Ronnie Liu - who headed the party's delegation - said he hoped the discussions would end in April.

"We have required our branches to submit candidate names by this month, and hopefully we can announce our candidates in May and let them have an early preparation," he said.

However, Keadilan supreme council member Dr A Xavier Jayakumar told malaysiakini that it will take at least four months to iron out the details.

Straight fight

In the three-hour meeting at an undisclosed location last night, both parties agreed to do their best to reach an understanding for a straight fight with BN and avoid any overlapping of opposition candidates in any constituencies.

Apart from Jayakumar, Keadilan was represented by supreme council member Khalid Jaafar and deputy Youth chief Low Chee Cheong while the DAP delegation consisted of central executive committee member Teresa Kok and its Youth wing secretary Loke Siew Fook.

Jayakumar said both sides have noted the difficulties that would arise in their negotiations and have agreed to use the 1999 election result as their reference line.

"We know our problem that we are both multi-racial parties...but we have to draw a reference line that is to look into the 1999 election results, how respective parties had performed, take into consideration seat redelineation, changes of racial population and other factors," he said..

Win-win situation

Asked o­n the effectiveness of these references if both parties end up contesting against each other for certain seats, he replied: Definitely we hope there would be a win-win situation but the Malaysian political scene is a rapidly changing o­ne and our negotiation must also consider the changes which take place."

"We have to give and take," said the Keadilan leader, adding that priority will be given to key leaders in both parties.

"National and state leaders will be given a more comfortable seat. Priority is given to them in the negotiations," he added.

Meanwhile, DAP's Liu said his side will also do their best to uphold the consensus.

"We haven't identified any seats to be discussed but we will go through state-by-state," he said.

Asked about previous media reports o­n the two parties' intention to contest for the same seats, he said such things should not be taken into account during the negotiations.

"We should forget all those war of words, and let's talk about it again," he added.

The next meeting between the two delegations is scheduled for April 7.

The general election is due by November 2004 but opposition parties predict that it will be held this year although Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has denied this.

Traditional seats

DAP is expected to fiercely defend its traditional seats in Penang, Federal Territory, Perak and Melaka while Keadilan leaders were also said to be eyeing seats in Penang and the Federal Territory.

In the 1999 election, Keadilan obtained four state seats and five parliamentary seats - three in Kelantan and o­ne each in Penang and Terengganu while DAP won 10 parliamentary seats and 11 state seats.

DAP had pulled out of the opposition coalition in Sept 2001 after crossing swords with another member PAS over the latter's ambition to set up an Islamic state.

Since then DAP has refused to be part of a similar opposition pact but had indicated its willingness to work individually with Keadilan.