ANALYSIS Excitement over the Sarawak polls has been dampened somewhat in recent days after news reports claimed that multi-cornered fights loom following a breakdown in Pakatan Rakyat’s seat negotiation talks.

Despite tough talk from Snap on the possibility of withdrawing from Pakatan, leaders from the four Sarawak Pakatan member-parties have set March 20 as their deadline to conclude seat negotiation talks.

Multi-cornered fights during the polls are common in Sarawak’s electoral history due to ideological differences or clash of personalities.

azlan But this time round, the opposition has a formal coalition and  believes that this is the best chance it has had since 1987 to deny BN its two-thirds control of the state legislative assembly. So it is scrambling to ensure straight fights to increase its chances.

Looking back, the opposition knows that this is the only way it stands a chance to dent BN’s mighty armour, and it frequently points to opposition gains in the Kuching area during the 2006 state polls.

In that contest, DAP and PKR struck a deal after intense rounds of negotiation, to ensure the parties did not fight each other in the Kuching area. DAP contested three seats and PKR two.

Collectively, they won four seats out of five against all expectations, sending shockwaves to BN, particularly the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), who was the main casualty.

Another often cited example of Sarawak opposition synergy was during the Sibu by-election. With the support of PKR and other Pakatan partners, DAP made history by beating SUPP in the latter’s stronghold.

Even bitter rivals are optimistic

One beneficiary of the strategy is Dominique Ng, who finally won the Padungan seat on the PKR ticket in 2006, after DAP grudgingly made way for him to contest in its traditional stomping ground.

Ng, a long time rival of the Chong family which is highly influential in DAP, is confident that PKR, DAP, Snap and PAS will resolve their differences in time for the state polls.

"We must always remember, the people of Sarawak don't want us to fail," he said in an recent interview.

azlan Ng has been at odds with DAP Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen for more than a decade, after he quit DAP in 1998 due to an internal power struggle. But he continued to stake a claim to the Padungan seat, much to DAP’s chagrin.

The duo were involved in a three-cornered fight for the Bandar Kuching parliamentary seat in 1999, with Ng contesting as an independent, that played to SUPP’s advantage. And adding to their political rivalry is their history of trading lawsuits.

Ng and Chong managed to win a seat each in the state legislative assembly in the 2006 state polls after their respective parties finally decided on a ceasefire.

Despite still being bitter rivals, which explains their exclusion from the ongoing seat negotiation talks, the duo agreed in separate interviews that Pakatan must not fail in their efforts to ensure one-to-one contests with BN.

Chong noted that Sarawak has never seen a formal opposition coalition before and this will pave the way for proper cooperation.

"It will affect the whole national coalition if there are still three-cornered fights in Sarawak," said Chong, who is both the Bandar Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa state assemblyperson.

Likewise, Ng believes that the national Pakatan leadership will surely intervene if seat talks fail.

“They will be called in. We’ll have to call Anwar (Ibrahim) to join the talks if needs be,” said Ng.

Posturing and negotiation tactics

On the apparent deadlock between PKR and Snap over the Dayak-majority seats, Ng believes that Snap’s threat to quit Pakatan should be read as mere posturing and negotiation tactics ahead of their meeting yesterday.

"If you observe statements from PKR and Snap's top leaders, they have consistently said that the only way to take on BN is to ensure all Pakatan members follow the agreement - to go one-to-one with BN.

               

"They have made clear that we still want to work together and that the enemy is BN, not one other,” said Ng, the state PKR advisor and the party’s first elected representative in East Malaysia.

Similarly, Chong explains that the press may be missing out on this point in Pakatan leaders’ recent statements, instead focusing more on the fiery rhetoric.

"In negotiations, you demand more than what you want, it is normal," said Chong.

However, Ng admitted that there are elements within PKR and Snap who are trying to provoke the two parties into fighting each other at the polls. He did not disclose details.

PKR preparing ‘back-up’ candidates

Snap, the oldest party in the state, is staking a claim to 28 of 29 Dayak-majority seats. PKR, though still in its infancy in Sarawak, is staking claim to all of it and more.

A report that quoted PKR selangor pkr briefing azmin ali deputy president Azmin Ali (right) stating that negotiations with Snap begins with “nothing more than three seats” was considered a major insult for the Dayak-based party which comprises veteran Dayak leaders and even former state cabinet members.

However, it is learnt that the PKR central leadership has advised its Sarawak committee not to over-stretch its resources and focus on winnable seats and candidates.

It is the same for Snap, which is facing a lack of eligible candidates and weak grassroots support, owing to it being dormant for eight years after it was deregistered in 2002.

Regardless, overlapping claims to seats are understood to be small in number and discussions over parliamentary seat allocations for the coming general election is also being discussed as part of the concessions offered.

The main headache for the negotiations is that PKR, in emphasising it is a multi-ethnic party, is likely to want seats from the entire spectrum being demanded by the ethnic-centric PAS, DAP and Snap.

On the bright side, it is believed that of the 52 seats that PKR wants, a significant portion of candidates lined up can serve as ‘back-ups’ in case their Pakatan allies fail to come up with a candidate.

The party has already identified more than 50 candidates, based on a headcount at a candidates training session in Kuching last Saturday.