Cloak and dagger game

By Chong Pit Fah

SAPP takes note of the DAP Sabah negotiation panel on seats sharing in preparing for the general elections. This panel was constituted in January this year. Has DAP actually negotiated with PKR and PAS in Sabah, as claimed by them?

SAPP confirms that Sabah deputy chairman Fred Fung who supposedly heads the so-called negotiation panel has spoken about this to me and our party President, Datuk Yong Teck Lee.

We are currently still waiting for answers to our enquiries put to Fred Fung in February (this year) i.e. what is the mandate of this DAP panel? Do they have to refer to "higher ups"? Is there a counterpart team in PKR and PAS to negotiate with?

SAPP wished to avoid the Sarawak situation whereby Pakatan member SNAP had already agreed with DAP and PAS on the seats arrangement. But PKR went for all the seats that DAP and PAS did not contest. Remember, SNAP is a member of Pakatan.

We also remind DAP about the fiasco in October last year, prior to the nomination of candidate for the Batu Sapi by election when PKR’s top delegation from KL and Sabah had an agreement with the SAPP delegation on 21st October in Kota Kinabalu. 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". And to make the matter worse, at the Batu Sapi by-election, 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.

There is even proof to show that a DAP leader colluded with UMNO to make sure SAPP lost. It looked like DAP was competing with SAPP to be the opposition 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.

Chong Pit Fah is Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Information Chief and Kepayan CLC Chief