It's official. KeADILan's Ruslan Kasim will be Barisan Alternatif's man in the Teluk Kemang by-election. No surprises here. After all, malaysiakini named Ruslan as the most likely opposition candidate last Tuesday.

Still, yesterday's announcement by BA leaders came very much as an anti-climax, given the heated exchanges between the two opposition partners over the right to contest the seat.

The scuffle, much of it was reported with unmitigated glee by the media, was most probably a result of an unwitting mix of misunderstanding, missteps and a perceived "loss of face".

Indeed, soon after it was clear that a by-election would be held, KeADILan's N. Gopalakrishnan was quick to stake a claim on the seat he had contested and lost. Wrong move.

In politics, one does not run a failed candidate in the same constituency. Gopalakrishnan could have been given a second chance if he was nudged out by a tissue-thin majority, but not when he was clobbered by a whopping 9,942 votes.

Knowing that it would be an uphill task to take Teluk Kemang, DAP preferred not to contest the seat. True, there were talks about the possibility of resurrecting the party's top guns who lost in the last elections, most notably chairman Lim Kit Siang and deputy chair Karpal Singh.

But that's a non-starter. Both Lim and Karpal, despite their political clout, would be hard pressed to pick enough votes to turn this into a winnable contest. More importantly, DAP cannot afford to see its leaders suffer another humiliating defeat.

In addition, newly-minted secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock is under pressure to concede the seat with some measure of dignity. Apparently, the DAP would have given the seat willingly to KeADILan if not for perceived slights by its coalition partner.

In one of its first salvos, KeADILan declared that it would allow DAP a shot at the seat if it was to field a heavyweight like Karpal. Rumblings of "who are they to tell us who to pick" were immediately heard. Surely, it is DAP which should determine its candidate.

Then, there was the issue of the electoral pact signed by the top BA leaders. KeADILan maintained that the agreement showed that Teluk Kemang was rightfully its seat, and not "loaned" as asserted by the DAP.

However, in yesterday's announcement, BA leaders took pains to recognise that the Teluk Kemang has been a seat contested by DAP since 1969. Apparently, the DAP is happy with that compromise. Now the challenge is to ensure all parties not to turn this fight into Malay-Indian tussle. But judging by previous battles, expect race to become an issue.

There is one other lesson in this opposition skirmish over Teluk Kemang - that democracy is very much alive and kicking within the BA coalition. One hopes that their internal quibbles will not be exploited by their foes. But blaming an adversarial media and imposing a gag order is no solution.

The goings-on within the BA are of public interest. Indeed, the more than four million voters who back the BA in the last election have the right to know.

BA should learn to avoid the pitfalls of its nemesis. It will be a black day for democracy when political parties have to resort to no-contest and no-campaign rulings in their bid to avert the Dreaded Split. Yes, the party will remain intact. But not for long.