Kayveas: We want our seats back

sun2surf

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14, 2008): People's Progressive Party (PPP) president Datuk M. Kayveas wants the leaders of MCA, Gerakan and MIC to act gentlemanly, honour their words and return the seats that were allocated to them in good faith.

"While Umno has returned the seats they had taken by giving PPP the Bukit Gantang parliamentary and Kota Alam Shah state seats, MCA, Gerakan and MIC have yet to do so.

He claimed that MCA owed PPP two parliamentary seats, namely Ipoh (now Ipoh Barat) and Menglembu (Batu Gajah) and seven state seats which are Ayer Tawar (Pantai Remis), Pekan Lama (Buntong), Pasir Putih (Pasir Pinji), Kuala Pari (Tebing Tinggi), Sungai Raya (Simpang Pulai), Pusing (Jelapang) and Gopeng (Teja).

Gerakan owed PPP the Beruas parliamentary seat and three state seats, namely Jalong, Pekan Bharu (Canning) and Pasir Bedamar while MIC owed it the Bidor (Sungkai) state seat, he said.

“It is a mere sincere, honest request. Something which belongs to us but somebody else is keeping it, so I am asking for it back.

“Just like the squatters who have been using other people’s land. When the landlord wants it back, you have to return it. There is no choice. You can’t keep people’s property like that. It is the same. Simple logic,” Kayveas told a press conference after chairing a PPP supreme council meeting this afternoon.

He said the party’s secretary-general had written about the matter to the secretaries-general of the three parties on Wednesday while he had written to the three presidents today.

“It is up to the presidents now. ... Please write to us officially, whether you will return them or not. We will accept whatever the answer,” he said.

He said if they could not return the original seats, they could give PPP other seats which they were not confident of winning as PPP had an advantage over them because it was once an opposition party.

Asked what he would do if the seats are not returned, Kayveas said: "We will cross the bridge when we come to it."

Kayveas said when PPP joined Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1972, it had four parliamentary seats and 12 state seats which it won in the 1969 General Election but later it was only given two seats.

Kayveas also stressed that he only wanted to defend his Taiping parliamentary seat and would not accept a change.

“It is too late now. If you want to put me somewhere else, it should be six months or a year back. Now we have everything prepared in Taiping, from operations room to posters.

“If they (top leadership) insist on me to go (somewhere else), I think I better quit. PPP has its dignity. Please don’t kick me around like a ball or treat me like an adopted child,” he added.

Earlier, in a press conference after the Umno supreme council meeting, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Kayveas did not object when he said there would be no changes in seat allocations for the coming elections.

He also said Kayveas will be given a seat but it has not been decided where.