Talks going on well with SAPP, says Anwar

Teoh El Sen

Anwar Ibrahim today played down talks of tension between the 'original' Sabah PKR members and allies of Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin.

PETALING JAYA: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today dismissed reports that talks were not going well with former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee’s Sabah Progressive People’s (SAPP) party.

He said Pakatan Rakyat, which he leads, has been “more successful with SAPP” as there has been a more active process of negotiations and “they have been attending our joint meetings”.

Anwar’s comments contradict a report on Tuesday quoting a SAPP insider who claimed that Yong had implied that SAPP could well be on a collision course with its “allies” PKR and DAP (Pakatan members) in many seats.

Speaking to FMT after SAPP’s supreme council meeting on Monday, the insider said Yong told his comrades that SAPP must stick to its “principle” that a local-based party must take the majority of the State Legislative Assembly seats.

But Anwar insisted that talks were going smoothly and that seat negotiations in Sabah were underway.

Anwar said that the opposition allies are more inclined towards a one-to-one fight against Barisan Nasional parties.
“We have taken a clear position that we are moving towards that direction, that’s it’s one-to-one,” Anwar said in a press conference at the PKR headquarters today.

When asked about Jeffrey Kitingan-led State Reform Party (STAR), Anwar said that Tuaran MP Wilfred Bumburing, who helms Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS), had been appointed to negotiate seats with Jeffrey in Sabah.

“We think we have a problem with the STAR because STAR says it is opposed to all Peninsula-based parties while we say that we are opposed to all corrupt leaders irrespective of whether peninsula or state-based. There is a difference there.

“Notwithstanding that, we have assigned Wilfred (Bumburing) to proceed with the negotiations, including with the STAR,” said Anwar.

‘We want to kill Umno’

Asked if peninsula-based Pakatan was focusing its efforts on only parliamentary seats and leaving the state to the locals to fight out, Anwar said: “There is no way we are only fighting in the parliamentary seats and giving the state to Musa [Aman]. We want to kill Umno.”

He also touched on reports that Sabah PKR was dysfunctional following Anwar’s ready acceptance of BN defectors Bumburing and Beaufort MP Lajim Ukin.

Both declared their alliance to PKR-Pakatan but declined to become members of the coalition. Lajim has set up his own platform Pakatan Perubahan Sabah which is Pakatan-friendly.

FMT had last month reported tension within Sabah PKR between the “PKR ori”[original] or “PKR photocopy”, the former referring to genuine members of the party while “photocopy” addresses those with APS and PPS who “refused” to be members of PKR but have declared support for Anwar.

But Anwar played down such allegations, saying that it was not an accurate assessment of the current situation.
“Not really, of course; there are questions raised, for example: ‘why do you consider this candidate… we think another candidate is better’. Things like that. We’ve had sessions, [PKR] state leader Ahmad Tamrin will be present in all the other meetings, similar with Wilfred and Lajim.”

“It is not about new or old, [former health minister and MCA leader] Chua Jui Meng came in later but he is still the head of Johor and doing similarly well national. I don’t think that is quite correct.”

When asked about the details of the “deal” with the newcomers, Anwar merely said that the collaboration with Lajim and Bumburing was going “smoothly”.

“They come in as partners in Pakatan. They are committed to the Pakatan agenda. We are working very well. In fact, next week I am going to [meet] Wilfred and Lajim as part of the campaign programme. I don’t have a problem, seriously.”

“There will be questions. Particularly now with people clamouring for seats or lobbying for seats; it is something which is quite normal. But we have to draw the line, you know.”

Seat talks smooth

Meanwhile, when asked about seat allocations nationwide, Anwar said that in the peninsula there has been much more progress.

“It is ongoing, in Selangor it is finished. In Penang there is one, Kedah one, Perlis one; I was told, Perak two state seats. So it is 95% resolved,” he said.

Anwar said that he told the committee working on seats, PKR’s Azmin Ali, PAS’s Mustafa Ali and DAP’s Tan Kok Wai to conclude the talks, but he was informed that there is a bit more to be done, especially in Sabah and Sarawak as it involves SAPP and STAR.