KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) said today it will defend its sole parliamentary seat of Sungai Siput that former ally DAP is targeting.
The party will also contest in the general election on its own ticket, rather than that of another party as it did in previous elections.
“Yes, I’m the incumbent and I think I have done a reasonable job [so] I should,” Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar told Malay Mail Online when contacted if he would be defending his seat.
PSM chairman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim told Malay Mail Online when contacted separately that his party will field candidates under its own banner at the next electoral contest.
“We are not using anybody’s else logo anymore. All these years we have been doing it out of respect, but they are not reciprocating the respect given to them, so we are going to go on our own,” he added.
Dr Mohd Nasir pointed out that PSM’s use of other parties’ logos before had only resulted in “broken promises” on seat arrangements.
He confirmed that the federal opposition pact Pakatan Harapan has not approached PSM for seat negotiations, noting that his party was also “backstabbed” in past elections and usually approached only at the “last minute” by the other opposition parties.
“Even now they have not come to us and they have already decided what seats to take. What do they expect from us, we have our pride, we have our work to do,” he said, later reiterating that it was better for PSM to move on on its own.
“Some NGOs want to use our logo, if they work hard and follow our rules like declaring assets and open service centre, why not? We are putting up farmers and Orang Asli as candidates,” he said.
When asked to respond to Perak DAP saying that it would contest Sungai Siput as PSM was allegedly contesting DAP-held seats, Dr Mohd Nasir said Malaysia was a free country and it was up to the other political parties to respond as they saw it..
“Basically I was informed they are going to contest in Sungai Siput so for us there’s no monopoly on any seats — parliamentary or state. We are contesting the place because we have been there for two terms and if they want to contest, it’s up to them,” he said.
He said PSM was contesting more seats in the general election, explaining that the political party picked these based on a minimum of five years’ work by their candidates in those areas.
“We never contest in areas we have never worked before and parachute and jump in and contest… now if other parties feel they want to contest against us, it’s fine with us, we can’t stop them, it’s a democratic country,” he said.
He pointed out PSM candidates will contest seats that only amount to three per cent of the federal and state seats in Malaysia.
“Where we contest, we constitute only three per cent, so it will not make a dent, even without the three per cent, they can still win and take over Putrajaya. If they make an issue out of it, fine, we are used to being played out most of the time,” he said, referring to Pakatan Harapan’s hopes of wresting control of Putrajaya.
He said the seats that PSM is targeting may experience multi-corner fights, but said the political party will leave it to voters to decide who is the worthy candidate based on the work done.
He said PSM actually carries out work among the people and even holds demonstrations and get detained together when fighting for their rights, unlike other parties that allegedly merely talk.
He said PSM could voice out the plight of voters in Parliament and state assemblies if voted in, but said the party would just work harder and improve and continue serving voters even if it loses.
“It’s an ongoing process; election comes, election goes, we serve the people,” he said. “Our main thrust of programme is how to serve people, we want to empower people so they can decide what kind of leaders they want to represent them.”
In the 13th general election, PSM and opposition party PAS won one federal seat and 21 federal seats, respectively, while Pakatan Harapan members DAP and PKR won 38 and 30 respectively out of the 222 federal seats up for grabs.
Six PAS MPs have since left to join the offshoot Parti Amanah Negara, which is part of Pakatan Harapan, and one reportedly defected to PKR, while the opposition pact’s latest component party, Parti Pribumi Bangsa Malaysia, has one MP formerly from Umno.
Due to political developments and by-elections, DAP and PKR currently have 36 and 28 MPs respectively in the Dewan Rakyat.
PSM was reportedly planning to contest in at least 20 federal and state seats for the 14th general election.
