THERE is little room left for negotiations between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) but the opposition coalition will let the socialist party retain the Sungai Siput seat in Perak should PSM retain the incumbent Dr Michael Jeyakumar.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke told The Malaysian Insight the coalition is ready to face the reality of a three-corner fight in four out of the five parliamentary seats PSM intends to contest in the 14th general election.

“We won’t completely denied them space, at least on Sungai Siput, PH has reached an internal agreement that PSM incumbent Dr Jeyakumar can continue to stand on PKR’s ticket,” he said.

He added that Perak DAP had wanted Sungai Siput for itself but agreed to let PKR keep the seat as long as Dr Jeyakumar is maintained as the candidate.

He said PH cannot negotiate with PSM on the other four seats – Batu Gajah, Subang, Hulu Langat and Cameron Highlands – as the coalition has finalised its seat negotiations in the peninsula and agreed to allow the most winnable party to contest in all seats.

Dr Jeyakumar said PSM will not cooperate with PH and will contest in Sungai Siput under the party’s own logo.

The soft spoken medical doctor said PH will only allow PSM to keep the seat if it does not contest in other seats.

PSM has said it intends to contest in five parliamentary seats and 15 state seats in the upcoming elections.

Dr Jeyakumar, 62, defeated then MIC president Samy Vellu in 2008 to win Sungai Siput, a seat held by the Indian-based party and Barisan Nasional (BN) component party since 1958, by 1,821 votes.

Samy Vellu, who was Works Minister then, had held Sungai Siput since 1974.

Dr Jeyakumar first contested the seat under a DAP ticket in 1999 but lost to Samy Vellu by 5,259 votes. He again ran for the seat under PSM in 2004 but lost by a bigger majority of 10,349 votes.

In the 13th general election in 2013, Dr Jeyakumar beat MIC deputy president SK Devamany to retain the seat with a higher majority of 2,793 votes,

Indian estate workers and Chinese smallholders make up 70% of the Sungai Siput electorate, with Malays forming the remainder. – January 9, 2018.