[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 12 Aug 1999
Time: 01:53:50
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Oppposition pact on seats with Malay majority
By Hamdan Raja Abdullah
MUAR: The opposition front comprising Parti Keadilan Nasional, PAS, DAP and PRM will field Malay candidates in all 115 Malay-majority parliamentary seats in the coming general election.
Keadilan Youth vice-chairman Mustapha Kamil Ayub said the front had agreed in principle for all Malay-majority areas to be contested by Malay candidates representing the components.
"Although most areas will be represented by candidates from Keadilan or PAS, there will be some seats to be contested by Malay candidates from DAP and PRM.
"Our aim is to have Malay representatives for all Malay-majority areas in the country," he said at a ceramah at Felda Sri Jaya on Monday.
Mustapha Kamil said such an understanding showed that both Keadilan and PAS gave priority to looking after the interest of the Malays.
He said this was different from Umno which had been claiming to champion the Malay cause, but only fielded 85 candidates in Malay-majority areas with the remaining 30 given to non-Malay candidates.
Mustapha Kamil, who was a former political secretary to Youth and Sports Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, also told the crowd that he was not being disrespectful to the minister for speaking in the Pagoh division.
He said Muhyiddin, who is Pagoh MP and the division's Umno chief, was a "boss" to be respected but different political principles had forced him (Mustapha) to resign and leave Muhyiddin.