I refer to your report ' Keadilan to nominate disqualified trio to contest ' .

As far as many Malaysians are concerned, the three individuals , Keadilan vice-president Mohd Azmin Ali, Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor and Wanita deputy chief Irene Fernandez, are innocent. They have not been proven guilty by the Malaysian justice system. However, the EC's decision to bar these individuals from standing in the next general elections is certainly disappointing and raises many questions as to the independence of the organisation.

However, although Keadilan is right in principle, it should not risk nominating these individuals to stand in the next elections. Malaysian politics dictate that sometimes you have to take the most rational approach to solving an issue. To put it bluntly, Keadilan and the Barisan Nasional cannot afford to lose seats blindly to the Barisan Nasional.

I would like to suggest that Keadilan field alternative candidates and ask the three individuals concerned to throw the full weight of their support base behind these alternative candidates. The objective should be to break into the parliamentary pie first and placing preferred candidates second.

I would also like to take to task the Election Commission chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman. On Oct 23, 2003, he said :

"If the court has found the person guilty and sentenced him to more than one year imprisonment or more than RM2,000 fine but at the same time allowed stay of execution for appeal, then, he cannot be disqualified because the sentence has not been executed. He remains qualified while his appeal is ongoing... but immediately after he exhausts all avenues for appeal and the sentence has to be executed then... of course he will be disqualified."

I wish to ask Abdul Rahman the following questions:

1) How does he expect public confidence to improve when many ordinary, reasonable citizens feel that this move is politically motivated?

2) How long more does the EC intend to insult our intelligence with howls of independence?

May God bless the Malaysian democratic system.