GE13: PSM regrets PKR is using race card to deny Semenyih seat (FZ.com)

First Published: 8:11pm, Apr 17, 2013

Last Updated: 8:11pm, Apr 17, 2013

  

Nation

by Meena Lakshana

FZ.COM/Sam Fong

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  Arutchelvan expresses his disappointment with the PKR leadership over the Semenyih state seat.

PETALING JAYA (April 17): Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan expressed regret today that PKR had allegedly played the racial card in rejecting his candidacy in the Semenyih state coonstituency.

 

He said a senior PKR leader informed him last night that  PKR deputy president Azmin Ali's "group"  refused to make way for  him because they wanted a Malay candidate in the consituency.

 

"Aside from breaking their promise, PKR is using the racial card to deny PSM the Semenyih seat," he claimed in a statement.

 

PSM had been in talks with Pakatan Rakyat to allow Arutchelvan, who had contested the Semenyih seat under the PKR ticket in 2008, to stand again this time.

 

PSM also wanted its chairman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim and central committee member Dr Michael Jeyakumar to defend their Kota Damansara and Sungai Siput seats respectively.

 

PKR leaders had said that they were agreeable to the PSM candidates being fielded but not to PSM's insistence on using its own logo.

 

However, last Sunday PKR went ahead and named Serdang PKR division chief Hamidi Hassan as the candidate for Semenyih.

 

But the following day, PKR strategy chief Rafizi Ramli said the decision was not final, while PKR vice-president Tian Chua gave an assurance that PSM candidates can be fielded if the party agrees to use the PKR banner.

 

Yesterday, when PSM informed PKR that it was prepared to contest under the PKR ticket, PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said incumbents Nasir and Jeyakumar can defend their seats, but the party needed time to sort out the Semenyih issue.

 

But following him last night's decision not to make way for PSM in Semenyih, Arutchelvam said his party is disappointed that PKR had not kept to its words.

 

He also pointed out that PKR had never fielded a candidate in Semenyih before.

 

"The Malay opposition candidate (from PAS) who contested the seat in 2004 lost by a majority of about 8,000 votes, compared to my loss in the 2008 election by a majority of 1,100 votes.

 

"Hulu Langat MP Dr Che Rosli also lost (votes) in Semenyih in the 2008 general election. So the question of Malay candidates having an advantage in the area is not a fact," he added.