After a long wait and much speculation, the historic merger of two opposition parties - Keadilan and PRM - finally saw a new transitional leadership line-up today.

With the slogan "Generating a New Politics (menjana politik baru)", the line-up was formally endorsed by Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali at a meeting this morning.

The three-hour meeting in Shah Alam, attended by 48 out of the 60 proposed leaders, ended with lunch and a photo taking session.

Despite the top leadership's reluctance to reveal the new line-up, malaysiakini however managed to obtain the list, which sees several familiar PRM faces joining the top hierarchy of the new party, to be named Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

While Wan Azizah remains the party's president, Syed Husin is the transitional leadership's new deputy president. Current Keadilan deputy chief Dr Abdul Rahman Othman has been re-designated as secretary-general.

Four new veeps

According to Abdul Rahman, Keadilan sec-gen Sahri Bahari had reconsidered his decision to resign and has accepted the post of ordinary supreme council member. Sahri had earlier declined to accept the post of assistant secretary-general.

The four new PKR vice-presidents are PRM vice-presidents R Sivarasa and Lee Sang and secretary-general Dr Sanusi Osman and Sarawak Keadilan chief Hafsah Harun.

Current vice-presidents are Internal Security Act detainee Tian Chua, Hulu Kelang state assembly representative Azmin Ali and former Penang mufti Sheikh Azmi Ahmad.

Keadilan supreme council member and Subang chief Kamarul Baharin is the new party's treasurer, PRM's Siti Noor Hamid Tuah is assistant secretary-general and PRM deputy president is PKR's new information chief.

Fuziah Salleh remains the party's Wanita chief, with Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor as Youth chief and PRM's Faisal Sanusi as his deputy.

Met after the meeting, Abdul Rahman said the new line-up will set a clear direction for the party.

He said the line-up must be decided before the coming general election as the people are waiting in anticipation of the new leadership of the two opposition parties.

He said the line-up was a constitutional requirement of the newly merged parties and added that the decision today was "final".

"We will try to persuade the Registrar of Societies to approve our application soon," he told malaysiakini.

Strong and credible

Meanwhile, Keadilan vice president Azmin Ali commented that the line-up was "strong and credible".

"The leaders are tested and have a proven track record," he said.

He cited the case of Saifuddin, who although is no longer the deputy chief, attended the meeting and gave his views openly.

"This new party will create a new political culture where members can speak out, unlike Umno, which o­nly follows the instruction of [Prime Minister] Dr Mahathir Mohamad

However, there seems to be certain quarters who may not be happy with the new line-up.

A Keadilan leader, who declined to be named, said that the leadership had made efforts to incorporate all factions into the new structure.

"We have invited those said to be unhappy to attend this meeting but they did not turn up. This shows that they do not respect the collective decision of the leadership," he added.