PAS has expressed interest in vying for the seats that its ally, PKR, failed to capture in the last general election.

The party's Penang commissioner Salleh Man said that the party was eyeing a few seats that it would like to try its luck at in the coming polls.

Pas 60th anniversary at kepala batas, penang He added that the intention has been conveyed to the party's top leadership, which is expected to decide on the matter soon.

"We just tragetting seats we have the best potential to win, and they happen to be in constituencies where PKR had lost previously," Salleh told Malaysiakin i.

"We hope to be given a chance to prove ourselves in there ," he added.

Mum about number of seats

Salleh Man said the state PAS leadership has worked out the potential candidates for the target areas, and the list is now in Kuala Lumpur, pending approval.

He believes the approved list will come soon from the party's central executive committee, as the 13th general election, is expected to be called soon, as early as June, latest by May next year.

When asked how many seats is PAS eyeing, Salleh was non-committal, declining to give an exact figure.

"It would be definitely be more than the previous election," he laughed.

PAS went for five state seats and only won Permatang Pasir, Salleh's constituency, while DAP and PKR tried for 19 and 16 seats respectively.

PAS' desire to go for more seats, especially in PKR areas comes in the wake of rising concerns that the DAP-led government lacks Malay representation in the state executive council.

pkr congress 281110 mansor othman Currently, only Deputy Chief Minister Mansor Othman ( right ) and PKR Batu Maung assembly person Abdul Malik Abul Kassim hold state portfolios.

Eleven other state assembly seats are held by Pakatan's arch rival, Umno, which lords over Malay majority areas.

NGOs like the Penang Malay Congress have also raised concerns that DAP needed to field more Malay candidates in the event its PKR allies fail to secure more seats in the polls.

In its effort to shed its Chinese dominanted image, DAP has been recruiting more Malays to join its cause but has yet to convince Umno, which continues to use the anti-Malay and anti-Islam tar brush on the party.

'PAS should focus on seats which it had lost'

Meanwhile, Penang PKR Information chief Johari Kassim said it was only natural for Salleh, as PAS’ top leader in Penang, to request for more seats from his leadership.

But PKR will continue to contest in the same seats allocated to the party in the last general election.

The party’s focus, he stressed, would be on winning all those seats which it had lost, especially those in the Malay dominant constituencies.

“PAS contested in five seats in 2008, and won only one. This means that they have four more seats to win, so why don’t they focus on these areas?

“They should work hard and win these seats which they have lost in the past before asking for more seats,” he added.

Since the election is around the corner, Johari urged PAS not to issue statements to rock the boat and create problems between Pakatan allies.

“We should be looking at ways on how to work together for now to win the coming GE. After we win, we can decide to work out who sits in the state exco,” he quipped.