The spat between DAP and PKR in Johor shows no sign of abating, with the dispute now expanding to the Tangkak state seat, with DAP Ledang division Youth chief Lim Eng Guan shooting down the PKR claim that the seat was "lent" to DAP in the last general election.

Yesterday, PKR Ledang division chief Ng Keng Chuan demanded that DAP "returns" the Tangkak state seat to PKR, as according to him, it was "loaned" to DAP in the 2008 general election.

dapsy ledang chief lim eng guan 130911 “Dapsy (DAP Socialist Youth) Ledang would like to express its strong stance that Ng’s allegation is totally unfounded.

"Indeed, the Tangkak state seat has all this while been contested by DAP in 1990, 1995, 1999 and 2008, except in the 2004 general election," said Lim ( left ).

He also said the PKR Ledang division chief had claimed at a dinner function that the seat would be contested on a rotational basis with DAP.

“We have reasons to doubt that Ng knew the actual content of the seat negotiation talks for the 2008 general election.

"Dapsy Ledang would like to state that the Tangkak state seat has neither been negotiated nor agreed with a ‘rotational’ nor ‘on  loan’ basis as claimed by Ng,” Lim said.

DAP lost the Tangkak seat to MCA on a narrow 295-vote majority in the last general election.

MCA-backed sabotage?

In a scathing attack on Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng ( right ), Lim said Chua have played a major role in DAP's failure to field a candidate for Tangkak back in 1999.

pkr congress 271110 jimmy chua jui meng He said Chua ( right ), who was MCA vice-president at the time, was very influential in Muar and the surrounding areas. 

DAP had in 1999 nominated Tee Kok Seng as its candidate for the Tangkak seat but Tee failed to turn up on nomination day, giving the BN candidate a walkover.

Lim said Chua may have had a hand in the no-show.

When contacted, Chua denied Lim's claim that he may have had a hand in Tee's "no-show" in Tangkak in 1999, describing it as “slanderous”.

“This is a stupid statement, It was 1999, why say it now? Why not say it before? That is a slanderous kind of statement,” he said.

Chua said it was not appropriate to bash him just because he was a an MCA member then.

“Most of the top leadership (in PKR) are ex-Umno. Without these ex-Umno coming out to form a reform movement, there would be no March 8 (political tsunami). Please respect the leadership,” he said.

‘Stop this now’

The former Bakri MP also attributed the current fiasco between the two parties to the leadership in DAP for refusing to take action against its member.

“If the leadership had taken action earlier over the behaviour of one person, all this would not have taken place, but no action was taken, so it appears.”

Johor DAP chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau had in a posting on micro-blogging site Twitter last week complained about PKR’s refusal to concede some of its seats to enable DAP to contest an equal share of the 26 parliamentary seats in Johor.

What followed was a tit-for-tat between the two parties over a number of disputed seats in the state, including the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.

Chua reiterated that disclosing any details on seat negotiations was in violation of Pakatan discipline and declined to join the debate.

"I have never engaged in this kind of negative debate, look at my whole history, I have always been civil to everybody, including the opposition (even when I was in MCA),” he said.

Asked about similar statements made by his PKR members against DAP, Chua said he wanted the spat to stop.

“Everyone wanted to make a statement much earlier, I had to restrain them for the sake of the people... let’s not get distracted by all this. They followed what I advised. But when this came out... I want the whole thing to stop,” he said.

Chua said it was unnecessary for Johor state leaders to debate this issue again as the matter would now be dealt by the central leadership.

“I’m sure Boo has a major role ahead of him in leading DAP to work together PKR and PAS to ensure a win for all the seats that have been agreed upon by the central leadership,” he added.

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