Pakatan will always have Malay bedrock, says DAP
Syed Jaymal Zahiid, TMI
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will always stand on a Malay foundation, whether in government or as the opposition, the DAP said today, countering a study predicting minority dominance in the federal opposition pact post-Election 2013.
The statement comes after the Chinese language media reported think-tank ASLI projecting a larger share of seats for the DAP, considering much of PR support stems from the predominantly-Chinese urban areas.
It also predicted the status quo would see the Malays and Chinese pitted against each other, with the former making up the government and the latter the opposition.
“I don’t know what is the intent of the report… but if you look at the seats distributions, we will always be a Malay-majority opposition,” DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua told reporters at a party function here.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP explained that his party’s study projected the predominantly-Malay PKR and Islamist PAS to win 85 out of the 125 targeted seats needed for PR to garner a simple majority and form the new government.
PKR and PAS have both said they will contest the lion’s share of the 222 available parliamentary seats, while the DAP is aiming to run in slightly above 60.
Although PR has said the seats allocations talk have not been finalised, it is likely that the three component parties will stick to this formula.
Pua noted that the DAP will also be looking to “possibly” field more Malay candidates at the upcoming polls, to preclude accusations of Chinese dominance within PR.
