Parti Rakyat Malaysia, which failed to win any seats in last Monday's elections, is holding intense talks with Parti Keadilan Nasional to seek closer cooperation with an eye for a potential merger between the two political parties in the near future.

According to PRM president Syed Husin Ali, his party would try "to forge a much closer cooperation or even unity with other parties in BA, starting with Keadilan".

Keadilan vice-president Chua Tian Chang, popularly known as Tian Chua, confirmed that the two parties had been meeting over the past few days and that "a merger is open for discussion".

While Keadilan has just emerged on the political scene riding on the wave of pro-Anwar Ibrahim sentiments, PRM has been around for 44 years.

PRM's political struggle has not been easy though. Its first president, Ahmad Boestaman was arrested in 1962 and spent several years in detention under the Internal Security Act.

The party was to suffer this unfortunate trend as all its subsequent leaders were detained under ISA during their tenures of office for allegedly subversive activities.

The party, said Syed Husin, had always championed the cause of workers and their well-being had always been paramount. Even to this day, very little had changed in terms of its political struggle, he said.

In 1957, the party together with the Labour Party formed the Socialist Front, and in the 1959 elections the front won eight parliamentary seats.

Though they have succeeded to gain more votes in last Monday's elections, PRM has not won any state or parliamentary seats since the municipal elections in Penang in the mid-1960s.

In 1990, key leader Dr. Nasir Hashim left PRM when the leadership dropped its socialist tag from the party's name. Nasir went on to form the yet-to-be-registered Parti Sosialis Malaysia last year.

According to PRM vice president Sheryll Stothard, the party's lack of appeal was due to its apparent association with the communist threat and its multi-racial character.

Last week, Syed Husin hinted that PRM may unite with other parties with a specific preference for Keadilan, an eight-month-old party.

PRM begun discussions with Keadilan on closer cooperation well before the elections, and the talks are still in progress, Syed Husin told malaysiakini.

However, he said that the form of cooperation has yet to be decided as talks are currently being held to secure closer cooperation between the two parties toward a greater unity.

Asked on whether the party's members would support the idea of merging, he said the central committee had backed the discussion process. "It does not mean that we want to shut down the party," he said.

Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua pointed out that the discussion is in its preliminary stage.

He said that the focus of the discussion is on the how to get stronger support from the grassroots.

"We are open to the question of merging," he added.