I refer to Mr Tambourine's ' Hard questions for Keadilan ' which is most relevant for voters at this particular period, and fairly urgent for Keadilan to respond.

Many of us originally have had such great hopes in Keadilan as an all-Malaysian-inclusive party alternative to the BN. We have been and still are enormously disappointed with its continuing close association with PAS, which has consistently shown itself to be very divisive.

PAS has been double-talking to Malaysians of different religious and ethnic groupings. It has come up with rather unscrupulous claims, such as telling its supporters and those who will vote for it that they will go to heaven. Surely this is not a party that Keadilan should politically fraternise with.

Even though Keadilan made a statement late last year to dissociate itself from the PAS Islamic agenda (after a long wait by many interested or potential supporters), it did so in a rather half-hearted feeble manner. It has to qualify itself with numerous statements that have more to do with its election prospects rather than a stern leadership statement of rejection of a very troubling and divisive PAS manifesto. Examples of such half-apologetic statements were:

"...inappropriate and untimely in view of the upcoming general election"

What if there was no upcoming elections? Would the PAS manifesto be appropriate and acceptable then?

"...expressed concern that the move could jeopardise BA's overall appeal to voters ...'

How about some concerns for many frightened Malaysians who have been looking for comfort from a strong political leader who is not from BN? Is Keadilan only interested in its election prospect?

And the worst one of all:

"...PAS document on the Islamic state could be blown out of proportion and context through the Umno-BN controlled media...'.

How about Keadilan itself 'blowing' and blasting the PAS document out of the water, rather than waiting for Umno-controlled media to do it? Or, could it be that Keadilan consider the PAS document acceptable, and it is only the election prospect that it wants to protect?

In fact, it has been the noticeable Keadilan's lack of strong opposition to its ally's scary manifesto that has prompted people like Mr Tambourine and me to write in on the eve of the election for reassurance.

If Tian Chua and colleagues aspire to form a future Malaysian federal government as he has asserted, they must learn now to tackle the hard calls head on, and stop skimming over difficult issues. It is one thing to form alliances but one should not sacrifice higher principles for an ally like PAS, unless one has accepted its political agenda.

Look at DAP! It was previously so eager to form an alternative alliance to deny the BN a majority in Parliament that it was even willing to 'sleep' with PAS. However, at least it has finally come to its senses after much objections by its supporters. At least it has listened to its people, and has rejected unequivocally the PAS Islamic manifesto. What about Keadilan?

How can we have confidence if Keadilan continuously tap-dances away from matters of such great concerns to a large segment of Malaysian society. It is blatantly dishonest of Keadilan to lead us along when we have no firm idea of how it will handle the PAS proselytising plans once the elections are over. We do not want just half-hearted qualified statements. We want a loud and

clear assurance that Keadilan rejects completely and unequivocally the PAS theocratic manifesto including its intention to implement hudud laws.

If Keadilan doesn't have the stomach for that required leadership, then forget about the ambition of becoming Malaysian political leaders, for now or the future. We are extremely worried about PAS and will campaign most vigorously as voters against it. Forgive us if its ally Keadilan becomes collateral damage.

But there is still time. Let us know if Keadilan stands for all Malaysians.