Cloak and Dagger Game of DAP?

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) is open to the idea of a common opposition platform but is also wary of PKR.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) is treading carefully over calls to forge a common opposition front against the Barisan Nasional coalition in the next general election.

In a statement issued here this week, SAPP information chief Chong Pit Fah said the party is waiting for the Pakatan Rakyat central leadership to negotiate seat allocation among the opposition parties in Sabah.

Chong was responding to a statement by Sabah DAP secretary, Edwin Bosi, calling for closer cooperation between opposition parties in Sabah to avoid the disagreements that scuppered chances of a better showing by the Pakatn coalition in the Sarawak state elections last week.

Bosi, had on Monday, said the opposition party had established a three-member negotiation panel headed by its deputy chairman, Fred Fung which had started talking to fellow coalition members PAS and PKR.

He said the panel had also made contact with SAPP to talk about a common strategy against Umno and the BN.

Chong said the local opposition party is aware that Sabah DAP had formed a negotiation team to discuss seat distribution among the opposition parties but added no discussions had taken place as yet.

“This panel was constituted in January this year… (but) has DAP actually negotiated with PKR and PAS in Sabah?” he asked.

While confirming that Fung had spoken about this to him and party president, Yong Teck Lee, Chong said they are currently still waiting for Fung to clarify the mandate of the DAP panel within the coalition.

“Do they have to refer to higher ups? Is there a counterpart team in PKR and PAS to negotiate with?”

Batu Sapi fiasco

The local opposition party is wary of a recurrence of what the coalition faced in the Sarawak election where Pakatan member SNAP agreed with DAP and PAS on the seats but failed to have an agreement with PKR who contested all the seats that DAP and PAS did not contest.

Chong said also fresh in the party’s memory is the fiasco in October last year during the Batu Sapi by-election which saw the party coming to an agreement with PKR who claimed they represented the opposition front only to find that Sabah DAP was not in agreement.

“PKR said they represented Pakatan because they have been given the mandate to negotiate with SAPP.

“This was because PKR was chosen to contest the Batu Sapi by-election.

“Unfortunately, immediately after the meeting, the then Sabah DAP chief Dr Hiew King Cheu denied that the meeting was valid.

“He insulted both delegations by calling the meeting mere coffee shop talk.

“To make matters worse Pakatan campaigners from Sabah and West Malaysia ferociously attacked SAPP instead of BN.

“This was in spite of the mutual agreement not to criticize each other and to campaign against BN,” he recalled.

Chong also claimed that the party even had proof that a DAP leader had colluded with Umno in the Batu Sapi election to ensure SAPP lost.

“It looked like DAP was competing instead of co-operating with SAPP to topple BN.

“We hope these sad episodes will not be repeated by the new leadership in Sabah DAP,” he said.