Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) and DAP are prepared to resume their seat negotiations but both parties could not state when this would take place.

Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said today her party was waiting for DAP to make an announcement regarding this.

She said the decision to resume the talks - suspended three weeks ago and followed by a heated exchange - was made after she spoke to DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock via the telephone last week.

"He had expressed hope to resume the talks as soon as possible and said that the process of communication must continue," added Wan Azizah when contacted.

According to her, Kerk also checked on the progress of her investigation on DAP's claim that Keadilan leaders were leaking details about the negotiation to the media.

"I had to get to the bottom of the issue and I told him that my party leaders did not leak the negotiation details while he also felt that there might be miscommunication along the way," she said.

She added that Kerk had also told her that he would issue a media statement soon to clarify the matter.

'Media war'

However, when contacted, Kerk refused to comment besides reiterating his party's earlier stand on the issue.

"We stressed that the opposition must ensure it will be straight-fight with Barisan Nasional. DAP is always prepared to resume negotiations if Keadilan is willing to address our concerns," he said.

Asked if Keadilan had taken into account DAP's concerns thus far, Kerk declined to comment as he did not wish to "embark on another media war (with Keadilan) again".

Yesterday, the DAP leader was quoted in a Chinese daily as confirming that his party would resume talks but did not say when.

On Aug 5, DAP suspended the talks following what it claimed the "persistent leak" of negotiation details to the media.

The final blow came when Penang-daily Kwong Yit Poh and malaysiakini quoted a Keadilan leader of accusing DAP of refusing to compromise on Chinese-majority seats in the state.

Following this, Kerk sent a letter to Wan Azizah telling her that talks will continue only if Keadilan stopped talking to the media about it.

Tian Chua's sacrifice

DAP was also irked by Keadilan's announcement that vice-president Tian Chua and supreme council member Dr Lee Boon Chye would stand in two seats previously contested by DAP.

However, Tian Chua told malaysiakini today that he was willing to give up the seat if DAP was willing to return to the negotiation table.

"If this is one way to resume to the talks, I'm willing to do so but DAP must understand that Keadilan will appoint Chinese candidates to contest in certain Chinese-majority seats to reflect our multi-racial composition," he said, adding that this was his personal decision.