Incumbent and veteran politician Dr Syed Husin Ali has retained his position as PRM president for the fourth term laying to rest speculations that there may be a change of guard in the party's top leadership.

After a four-hour meeting, the 115 delegates also voted former lecturer Rustam A Sani as new deputy president and six new faces including three women into the central committee at the party's 35th triennial National Congress in Kuala Lumpur today.

Former Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer Dr Sanusi Osman remains as secretary-general while lawyer R Sivarasa continues as vice-president for the second term. Koh Swee Yong is the party's treasurer and Ang Hiok Gai retained his post as assistant secretary-general.

Delegates voted 19 persons out of 32 names that were nominated. The six new faces are Youth deputy chief Latheefa Koya, Youth vice-chief Jonson Chong, lecturer Dr Rohana Ariffin, Pahang chief Zulklifli Ismail, S K Song from Johor and Mak Seong from Ipoh.

Others in the line up include Abdul Razak Ahmad, Chong Ton Sing, Hassan Karim, Siti Noor Hamid Tuah, Gary Nair, Hamzah Abdul Hamid and Lee Sang.

Minor changes

Speaking to reporters after the elections, Syed Husin said there were only minor changes although there were Youth and women members in the line up this year.

"The changes are not as we had expected but the situation can be improved in the future," he said.

Keadilan president DrWan Azizah Wan Ismail, secretary-general Sahri Bahri, supreme council member Ng Lum Yong and Wanita chief Fuziah Salleh were guests at the congress which began at 9am.

DAP central committee member and Seputeh member of Parliament Teresa Kok, PAS vice-president Dr Hassan Ali, Parti Rakyat Insan Malaysia pro-tem committee secretary general P Uthayakumar and Parti Socialis Malaysia pro-tem committee member V Selvam were also present.

Although this is election year for delegates to determine the party's leadership, this may be PRM's last congress as it is expected to merge with Keadilan by the end of the year.

Central committee member and lawyer Latheefa, in welcoming the new line up, said that it was a "big responsibility" to be elected into the central committee.

"We (the youths) will try our best to bring new strategies and renewed energy into the party," she told malaysiakini .

Renewed energy

Sivarasa said the line-up showed that there was "a renewed sense of energy" in the party especially with younger people being voted in.

Meanwhile, Syed Husin refuted allegations that the party was "lethargic" despite being in existence for many years saying that PRM was actually an "active party which was not given enough media attention".

"We may not have a representative in Parliament but our candidates managed to obtain about 45 percent of the votes in the last general elections," he said.

"Many of our statements and activities were not highlighted by the media so please review the question of us being lethargic," he added.

In the last general elections, PRM candidates contested in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor and obtained about 60,000 votes in the constituencies.