updated version

Delegates attending Keadilan annual general meeting today voted to change the party's constitution to accomodate its impending merger with Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).

Final tally of the votes this afternoon were 640 in favour of the change with 29 against. A total number of 906 delegates registered for the AGM which was held in Sungai Petani, Kedah. It is believed that the rest either abstained or were absent during the voting.

When the AGM ended at 6pm today, Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she was happy that the amendments to the constitution has been endorsed by the delegates.

"It will now enable us to work together with PRM to achieve our common goal," she told reporters at Lip Seang Kor hall where the two-day AGM was held.

The merger with PRM has been stalled for more than a year due to Keadilan's inability to convince its delegates to amend the party's constitution accordingly.

The amendments include renaming Parti Keadilan Nasional as Parti Keadilan Rakyat Malaysia and adding PRM's red on each side of Keadilan''s turquoise blue logo with two white crescents at the centre.

With the merger, the new party will comprise of 60 supreme council members.

Common activities

According to Keadilan secretary-general Sahri Bahri, the party will submit the amendments to the constitution to the Registrar of Societies for approval within these two weeks.

Following that a transitional supreme council including PRM central committee leaders will be organised to complete the merger process.

There will be common activities organised between the two parties to familiarise with each other's culture.

"The leaders of the two parties would have to meet and a transition supreme council will be set up before the end of the year," he said.

Protest walk-out

Earlier, during voting time, 22 delegates staged a walk-out as a sign of protest over the lack of time given to debate the amendments.

Yesterday, a letter addressing the same issue was circulated to delegates while Wan Azizah was presenting her policy speech.

Later, a group led by former deputy Youth leader Mustapha Kamil Ayub, held a press conference at Hotel Seri Malaysia to explain their protest.

Mustapha, who claimed that 110 people walked-out during the session, said the group did not object the merger with PRM.

He said they were not happy that delegates were not given time to debate the proposals to the amendments.

Mustapha was ousted by current deputy chief Saifuddin Nasution Ismail at last year's party elections.

Mustapha is linked to the Malaysian Youth Islamic Movement which tried to stop the merger with PRM.

In an immediate response, vice president Azmin Ali said the merger issue had been debated at length at last year's AGM.

He said the leadership failed to get a two-thirds majority then to amend the constitution because there were articles which needed to be reviewed.

He added the changes have been made to those articles and circulated to members at branch and divisional level during the past year.

Endorsement required

"They were no protest forwarded to the leadership so there is no necessity to debate the same issues again, we simply need their endorsement," he said.

Meanwhile, Sahri said the group should have registered their protest by casting their votes against the merger. instead of staging a walk-out.

He added that those who were not happy with the merger "disappeared for about a year and only appeared during the AGM".

On the 110 delegates claimed by the dissenting faction to have walked out during the voting session, Sahri asked "How do they know it is 110 unless they orchestrated the whole thing?"

"Members can voice their protest but once a decision has been made by the majority of the delegates, they must toe the line," he added.