PSM renews call for Harapan to decide soon on Sungai Siput

PSM has renewed its call for Pakatan Harapan to make a decision soon on whether party chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj can contest in the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat as part of an electoral pact with the coalition.

When met at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor today, PSM deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan said he was told that the coalition’s presidential council will decide on the matter.

“We hope (Harapan's) top four will decide soon, because we don’t have much time and we hope for the best,” he added.

Arutchelvan was speaking to the media after attending a meeting with a Harapan committee which was formed to hold talks with PSM and Muda on seat negotiations.

“We met committee members including PKR vice-president Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and DAP organising secretary Steven Sim. We told them about our wishes to contest in Sungai Siput.

“We felt that Jeyakumar (above) is a winnable candidate to take on MIC president SA Vigneswaran, who is expected to be fielded at Sungai Siput,” Arutchelvan said.

“Basically, we are putting Sungai Siput as an important discussion. We think that for the electoral pact to work, we have to look into that.

“They said they will bring the matter to the Harapan presidential council,” he added.

Arutchelvan pointed out that his party is not asking for many seats or setting any difficult conditions for working with Harapan.

“What we asked is simple,” he said, explaining that the party requested to only contest in several seats not held by any incumbent Harapan lawmakers.

However, he declined to reveal the number of seats PSM requested.

Earlier this month, Vigneswaran unveiled his plan to contest in Sungai Siput, which was once a MIC stronghold.

For the record, former MIC president S Samy Vellu served as Sungai Siput MP for eight terms from September 1974, until he lost to Jeyakumar in March 2008.

The incumbent Sungai Siput MP is PKR’s Kesavan Subramaniam, who beat MIC’s SK Devamany for the seat in the 2018 general election.

Meanwhile, Amanah communications director Khalid Abdul Samad, who attended the discussion on seat allocation, said several seats are still in negotiation among the Harapan parties, Muda and PSM.

"There are a few more seats still in negotiations which we may not give the mandate for and most probably be raised at the presidential council," he added.

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