Insiders in Barisan Alternatif have questioned the release of the seat distribution arrangement in Kedah for the coming general election before the opposition front's presidential council meets this Saturday.

Sources close to Keadilan's top leadership told malaysiakini that the publication of the seat arrangement in PAS official organ Harakah might pre-empt any attempt to vary the arrangement sealed by the PAS and Keadilan state leaders two weeks ago.

"We feel that the BA presidential council will be forced to approve the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by state leaders. It is unethical for them to release it without it being first approved by the presidential council," said a party source.

On Feb 4, PAS and Keadilan signed the MoU to avoid a three-cornered fight in the frontline state where the Muslim-based party is to contest in 10 parliamentary seats and 27 state seats while Keadilan is allocated five parliamentary seats and nine state seats [see graph ].

Keadilan vice-president Azmin Ali - who is also the party's election campaign director - had expressed his unhappiness over the pact alleging that the party had been given a raw deal as most of the seats were "unwinnable".

However, despite the strong sentiments against the pact, the document was made official in a Feb 11 ceremony that was witnessed by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

Real reason

The source alleged that the real reason the PAS state leadership was eager to "bulldoze" the memorandum was to ensure that the Guar Chempedak state seat is allocated to the Islamic party.

"The state leaders do not want Keadilan Yan division chief Akashah Ismail, who is a favourite among locals, to contest the state seat as he is close to PAS Yan MP Nasharuddin Mat Isa," he said.

"Everybody knows that Nasharuddin and PAS Kedah chief Azizan Abdul Razak do not see eye to eye. That is why Azizan was so adamant to make the memorandum public."

He said when Azmin was informed of the situation, he investigated the matter.

"He (Azmin) went to the grassroots and found that Akashah was the most suitable candidate for Guar Chempedak. That was one of the reasons why he expressed dissatisfaction over the signed pact," he said.

However, Keadilan state deputy chief Saifuddin Nasution dismissed claims that Akashah had been sidelined in favour of a PAS candidate.

"The seat allocation discussion was done in a transparent manner. Representatives from each division including those from Guar Chempedak were given equal opportunities to submit their claims, which was given full consideration before a final decision was made," he said.

He said there was nothing suspicious in the release of the information on seat allocations before the BA presidential council meeting.

"Of course if one looks at it negatively, the release of the seat allocations can be seen as overstepping the presidential council. But we look at it positively where the leaders are able to appreciate the efforts made by the state leaders to settle the issue in a mature and professional manner," he said when contacted.

He reiterated his confidence that the BA election secretariat would accept the memorandum.

"However, I wish to stress that the presidential council do have the power to take issue with the findings at the state level," he said.

While acknowledging Azmin's unhappiness over the deal, Saifuddin said the fear that Keadilan was given unwinnable seats cannot be supported by facts.

"It's difficult to back such claims because this is Keadilan's inaugural attempt to win state seats at the general election. There is no benchmark to claim which seat is winnable for us or not. We have to rely on other facts like strength of membership and election machinery of each party in making our decision," he said.

Nine meetings

He said both parties worked very hard and it took them a total of nine meetings conducted over several months to reach a solution.

"At the ninth meeting the only seats which could not be settled were Kubang Rotan, Guar Chempedak and Kuah. Keadilan had never given up in securing these seats but we at the meeting decided that a decision must be made as any further delay would only affect the preparations for the coming polls."

"Initially PAS felt that they must contest Kubang Rotan because as the party leading the BA in Kedah, they want to challenge the seat whose incumbent is Umno state leader, Menteri Besar Syed Razak. But after considering the above factors, they relented and gave it to us."

"We appreciate their spirit of cooperation and we reciprocate by agreeing to give Guar Cempedak and Kuah to PAS as the constituencies looked more favourable for them."

As to the claim that Akashah would be a better candidate to run in Guar Chempedak, Saifuddin stressed that the party had never put personal interest above the party.

"Such claims are subjective because PAS can also claim that its candidate is better as he is well known to the locals and a professional. So it's difficult to decide on this point."

Saifuddin also dismissed the allegations of bad blood between Nasharuddin and Azizan.

"Those allegations are baseless because Ustaz Azizan was never involved in the state allocation talks. I have a great relationship with both PAS leaders, who have acted professionally at all levels. I don't think there is any enmity between the two."

Nasharuddin, who is also PAS secretary-general, too denied having any misunderstanding with the PAS state leader Azizan.

"Who doesn't have differences? But there is no serious misunderstanding between me and Ustaz Azizan. Things are going well for the BA in Kedah and we're all set to wrest Kedah from Umno," he said.

As to the memorandum, he said the PAS central leadership had no problem with the settlement reached at the state level.

"Both parties agreed that it is a fair deal for them. It is unlikely for us to question their cooperation," he said.

Akashad dismayed

Meanwhile, Akashah when contacted confirmed that he had made plans to contest the Guar Chempedak state seat but had relented as the state leadership felt that it would be better if PAS was to fight there.

He did not deny feeling disappointed with the decision but has no plans to appeal against the decision for reasons he refused to divulge.

Akashah also said that it is unlikely that BA presidential council would change the decision made as he had told the top leadership of his decision.

"Politics is only a platform for me to reach to the people to help them in whatever way I can. I chose politics because the platform is broader for me to reach the people. That I am not given a seat to contest does not mean that I am unable to serve the people any longer. I will continue on."

An opposition supporter from Kedah told malaysiakini that the real reason why Akashah is not appealing was to protect the credibility of PAS president Abdul Hadi who witnessed the official signing of the memorandum.

"We were told that Tuan Guru Hadi had no idea that he was to witness the MoU. What he was told was that he was to launch the Kedah manifesto. So he was trapped into witnessing the pact. Akashah felt that it would look bad on Tuan Guru if he makes attempts to vary the MoU," said the businessman who wished to remain anonymous.

He claimed that Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had to cancel her attendance of the event at the last minute after she was informed of the memorandum.

'Dirty politics'

Meanwhile, the grassroots in Kedah have expressed their worries of the recent development stating that the "dirty politics" are affecting the support for the opposition.

A local resident fromYan said that both Keadilan and PAS party workers in Guar Chempedak have lost their will to continue their preparatory work as they know that it is impossible for a PAS candidate to wrestle the seat from Umno.

"The locals there traditionally does not favour PAS. But after the 'sekolah agama rakyat' issue and Umno leaders' bad reputation, they have grown to hate Umno too. But these are proud people so they are not going to root for PAS. Thus, it was only natural for them to feel more comfortable with Keadilan," said the retiree.

He said Akashah had a better change of winning the Guar Chempedak seat as he had been working closely with the locals for the past couple of years.

"He has ran successful agriculture projects with the farmers here. One of his success is to sell mangosteen to a high-profile hypermarket which exports the produce too. He's also involved in managing some religious schools and help them raise school funds," said the retiree.

He said that the latest development is not healthy for BA as most traditional Malays in Kedah are simple villagers who do not like to see "good people" like Akashah being unfairly treated.

"I hope the top leadership at the federal level would do something... maybe persuade Akashah to pep the people up to continue working and supporting the party. The locals must be appeased or else we'll lose."

In the 1999 election, Barisan Nasional's Abdul Razak Hashim beat PAS' Nasir Othman by 2,275 votes out of 13,775 votes cast.

A PAS member from Kedah said party supporters on the ground have expressed unhappiness over Azizan's management at the state.

"It's in a very sad state for the party under the late Fadzil Noor, had blossomed so well but all that is spoilt by Azizan's selfish administration. From what I see, PAS can only win nine seats. The claim that they will win the state is just a pipedream."