A common manifesto and a one-to-one contest against the Barisan Nasional - these are the two salient points agreed by three Sarawak opposition groups after a meeting in Kuching yesterday.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice president Azmin Ali told reporters after meeting leaders of Sarawak National Party (Snap), state PKR and yet-to-be-registered Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) that there were only a few seats to be sorted out but he believed this would be resolved well before the elections.

"We're in the final stage of drawing up the full and final list of candidates for the endorsement of the national leadership," he said.

He said the election manifesto had been drafted and would be unveiled soon.

"The election manifesto will embody the spirit of Sarawakians," the PKR leader said..

The group, Azmin said, would work closely with the DAP which has opted not to be part of the opposition alliance.

Taib's health

Azmin also disclosed that former deputy premier and PKR national advisor Anwar Ibrahim would be coming back to Malaysia for good after completing his stint as a visiting professor in a US university in May and would be going round the country, especially Sarawak.

On the health of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's, Azmin said he prayed for Taib's recovery (after his recent surgery in Singapore to remove a tumour from his colon suspected to be cancerous) "so that he would be able to serve the people, not just his family."

Last night Azmin met PKR members and supporters and today he would be officiating at a seminar for party members on preparations for the elections.

There will be 71 state seats, including nine new ones, up for grabs in the coming election due this year. In the present 62-seat state assembly, the BN controls all but one seat. DAP won Kidurong in the 2001 state polls.