As Gerakan publicly guns for the Taiping parliamentary seat, incumbent and sole People's Progressive Party (PPP) elected representative M Kayveas said such talk is premature and unconstructive.

"It is still early and it would disturb the momentum on the ground. Such talk is premature and it won't be good for the working environment," he said when contacted today.

He was asked to comment on Perak Mentri Besar Tajol Rosli's remark, reported today in The Star , that the Taiping seat rightfully belongs to Gerakan.

Kayveas, who heads PPP, was allocated the seat during the 2004 general election. Umno had given Bukit Gantang to Gerakan which fielded Wanita head Tan Lian Hoe there as part of a one-off arrangement.

Last month, Rosli had made Tan the Barisan Nasional (BN) Taiping division chief. Following this, Gerakan vice-president Chang Ko Youn urged Kayveas to accept Taiping as a 'Gerakan seat'.

Kayveas, also deputy minister in the prime minister's department, believes that Chang was the one who first raised the matter.

"When (seat) allocations are made, an MP should be left in peace to serve the public. Talk about seats should only start when the prime minister declares a general election...every seat should be considered a BN seat," he said.

He said many present so-called 'Gerakan seats' were formerly controlled by the PPP, some as far back as 15 years before the formation of Gerakan.

"Does it mean now I can go back and dig up records and claim these are (rightfully) PPP seats?" he asked.

'Branches rattled'

On the reaction to this development from a growing number of PPP branches in Taiping, Kayveas said they were "rattled and unsatisfied".

"They are not happy because they are comparing the Gerakan (MP's) service of the last 15 years (with mine)," he said.

Kavyeas also said he had approached Barisan Nasional head and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ( photo ) over Gerakan's move, but was assured that matter would be settled amicably.

"I agree with the mentri besar's opinion that the decision lies with the prime minister. But there has been no such meeting yet (with BN leaders over seat allocations). I will speak at that time and until then, I will keep quiet," he said.

Kayveas also claimed he was misquoted by the Chinese press over his decision to stand as an independent candidate, should he not be allowed to defend his seat.

"What I said was: 'I work hard enough in this place and even as an independent, I would win'. But this was misinterpreted," he said.

In 2004, PPP had its first successful outing in 18 years when Kayveas won the hotly-contested seat with a slim majority of five percent.