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Seats negotiation with Keadilan: Call on Keadilan leaders to show sincerity and professionalism   Media Conference Statement by Loke Siew Fook (Petaling Jaya, Thusday): I refer to the responses by Keadilan leaders over the announcement by DAP Secretary General, Kerk Kim Hock to suspend the seats negotiation process with Keadilan and found it misleading and not addressing the real issue.   One of the Keadilan’s negotiators Khalid Jaafar said that DAP was over-sensitive and he was quoted as saying, “We don’t understand. We are just interested in seat negotiation and not in what people say in the media.” The issue is not what other people said but it was Keadilan own leaders who leaked out what was transpired in the negotiation meeting. Khalid should know very well that any bickering through media will only damper the negotiation process between the two parties. I wonder what will be Khalid’s response if it was the DAP leaders who leaked out the information and they are in the receiving end?   Another Keadilan leader Ruslan Kassim accused that DAP leaders were harping on “just one isolated case in Penang” to suspend negotiations with Keadilan. This is far from truth. A check with the Malaysiakini news archive on this subject will reveal that it was always the Keadilan side that sparked off controversial issues over the negotiation process since it was started on March 21 this year.     The DAP has suspended the negotiation with Keadilan due to two fundamental problems in the negotiation process:  persistent leak-outs of negotiation details and negative public comments by PKN leaders; and unjustified and unwarranted open criticisms and attacks by PKN leaders against the DAP arising from arguments and disagreements during the seat negotiation process In the very first meeting between DAP and Keadilan on the seats negotiation held in Crystal Crown Hotel in Petaling Jaya on March 21st, the very basic agreement reached between the two sides is that after each negotiation meeting, both sides should not reveal whatever details transpired in the meeting to the press. Any announcement to the press should be done through a joint press statement. This was agreed by the Keadilan leaders at the meeting as they also believed that any open bickering will only harm the negotiation   I even further proposed that each side should appoint one spokesperson on the process as to avoid any conflicting statements by both sides. Our committee appointed Sdr Ronnie Liu to be DAP spokesperson on the matter while Keadilan represented by Dr Xavier Jayakumar.   Dr Jayakumar was even quoted in Malaysiakini on May 7th and he said, "Please bear with me, we have agreed not to talk to the press, not to confuse the issue and not to jeopardise the meeting. Therefore, to be fair, we will o­nly issue a joint statement," The DAP has stick to this agreement throughout the negotiation process as we believe that to reach a fruitful negotiation, we have to do it in a professional and sincere manner. I personally was asked by reporters on a few occasions to comment on the negotiation process but I refused to comment anything and merely asked them to refer to our respective spokesperson. Keadilan has violated this agreement time and again since the first meeting. The argument that the statements by the various Keadilan state leaders should not be taken seriously is unacceptable. If everyone in their party can comment on the matter as they like, then what is the use of having a national committee to talk to us? Khalid was quoted as saying, “We have to focus on what we want to achieve – a straight fight for the general election.” There is no argument on this point as we want to achieve the same objective but Khalid must realize that to achieve it, both sides must be sincere in our negotiation and be extremely professional to handle the process. The strategy employed by Keadilan is nothing new. They have used the same antic to put pressures on the DAP in the Teluk Kemang, Lunas and Gaya by-election. The DAP had give in Teluk Kemang and Lunas but enough is enough and it is definitely not the way to go along. The DAP definitely would not like to see a three-cornered fight in any constituencies. But it is Keadilan who should learn the bitter lesson from the Gaya by-election results. Despite whatever credibility and strength they claimed in Gaya, they lost their deposit at the end. I call on the Keadilan leaders to put their feet on the ground and uphold the spirit of professionalism and sincerity if they want to have any chances for the negotiation process to be resumed. (7/8/2003) * Loke Siew Fook, DAPSY National Secretary and member of DAP’s seats negotiation committee