PAS appears to have been forced to concede its claims on the Labuan parliamentary seat, with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim announcing a PKR candidate for it last night.

NONE According to local daily Borneo Post, Anwar ( left ) at a ceramah in Papar announced that former Sabah Umno treasurer and noted corporate figure Ibrahim Menudin will be the PKR person for the seat.

Ibrahim, who was once Group CEO for the Malaysia Mining Corporation, joined PKR last year after the defections of incumbent Beaufort MP Lajim Ukin and incumbent Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing to PKR.

PAS had earlier announced that the party's Labuan information chief Hadnan Mohamed was their candidate for the seat.

"The PAS announcement was made at a divisional level while the de facto leader himself made the PKR announcement so we assume that things have been sorted out at a national level," Sabah PKR chief Thamrin Jaini said when contacted.

Although Labuan, a federal territory, is considered to be under the purview of the parties' Federal Territories leadership, the contradictory announcements appear signal early cracks in Pakatan Rakyat cooperation in the state.

Labuan is an island located west of the Sabah mainland and is a three-hour ferry ride away from Kota Kinabalu. It was won by Umno's Yusof Mahal with a majority of 8457 in 2008.

Then PAS candidate for Labuan Matusin Abdul Rahman came last in the three-corner edfight, garnering only 1,106 votes.

NONE For the 13 th General Election, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang ( right ) in Kalabakan announced this morning that the party will go for two out of 25 Sabah parliamentary seats-Batu Sapi (Hamzah Abdullah) and Kalabakan (Usman Madeaming).

It will contest also nine out of 60 state seats and will place professionals including lawyers and engineers in these constituencies.

The seats are Merotai, Tanjong Batu, Sebatik, Bugaya, Kunak, Sukau, Tanjong Aru, Tempasuk and Pitas.

Further delays in PKR list

Overlapping claims by Pakatan parties for seats, especially parliamentary seats, throughout Sabah appear to have delayed the PKR candidate list announcement due last night.

"We expect the final (Sabah PKR) list to be announced within next week," Thamrin said.

This development comes in the wake of a pre-emptive move by Tuaran PKR chief Ansari Abdullah, who last week announced the names of seven candidates, including himself, for constituencies in Sabah's west coast.

The central and state PKR leadership had dismissed this as merely a suggestion, stressing that the list is not yet final, prompting speculation of mutiny or party machinery boycott .

A tug of war is also said to be underway between Pakatan partners PKR and DAP in neighbouring Sarawak. Both are laying claims for Stampin and Miri.

There are also disputes between PKR and PAS over Kota Samarahan and Igan, while DAP and PAS both want to contest in Mukah.

PAS intends to vie for seven out of 31 Sarawak parliamentary seats, including Sibuti, which will be contested by television personality Mohd Zaid @ Robby Tandang.

Sarawak PAS also announced that it will field its first non-Muslim MP candidate, Dr Ambrose Labang Jamba, in Julau.