updated version

Keadilan and Parti Rakyat Malaysia agreed to set aside the future status of female youth members to clear the way for the proposed merger of the two opposition parties in June.

The issue is one of a few unresolved stumbling blocks in the year-long merger talks between the two parties.

Keadilan Youth head Mohd Ezam Md Noor said that among the key issues which are yet to be agreed upon is the issue of where female youth members will be grouped into once the two parties have merged.

In Keadilan, all female members automatically come under its Women's wing while in PRM there is no gender grouping.

Although PRM is not against a Women's wing in the new party, it wants the Youth wing to include both sexes. At present, Keadilan has an all-male Youth wing while female members, irrespective of age, are members of the Women's wing.

Stating that the mandate on the merger has been given to the Merger Technical Committee - comprising PRM and Keadilan representatives - Ezam said Keadilan Youth has requested for this particular issue to be excluded from the merger talks.

"This is because this is a pertinent issue as there are many women between the ages of 18 and 25 out there who have yet to be recruited as party members," said Ezam.

'Keadilan logo with PRM elements'

Meanwhile, PRM Youth secretary-general Latheefa Koya told malaysiakini that Keadilan Youth has shown a positive response to enrolling women as its members as opposed to its conventional practice.

"The worries are more prominent within Keadilan Women's wing as they are afraid that they might be rid of," she said.

Latheefa added that PRM Youth is anticipating a clearer policy from Keadilan on young women's role in the party after the merger.

"We have proposed for all women to be enrolled into the Women's wing automatically while the young ones at age 35 and below can choose to become Youth members. We will lobby for a more active role of young women in the Youth," she said.

Another item believed to have been a thorn in the talks is that of the logo.

Ezam clarified that he has been informed that the issue of the logo has also been more or less ironed out.

"It has yet to be finalised but the technical committee have compromised that it will be more or less a Keadilan logo with PRM elements,"said Ezam.

Outstanding issues

Ezam said there are factions in the party which harbour reservations about the merger but this has more to do with disinformation rather than opposition to the merger.

His view was supported by Keadilan vice-president Dr Chandra Muzaffar, who said it is just natural that people question the merging.

Although Chandra, who is also part of the Merger Technical Committee, said that the merger involves both parties, he also implied that it is a matter of one party joining another.

"We have to explain to the people how a two-year-old party is bringing in another party. People want information and clarification, as the people involved are from diverse backgrounds," explain Chandra.

Chandra said that most of the technical details between the parties have been resolved and the committee is now looking at other "outstanding issues".

"I would not want to say what are the outstanding issues. However, we will take a few months to explain the merger to the people," said Chandra.

Resentment

PRM vice-president Rustam A Sani, on the other hand, said that the proposed merger could be 'derailed' due to sentiments from members of both parties.

Rustam said that shortly after the merger proposal was approved in the liaison committee last year, PRM leadership was given the mandate by its members during its national congress last June to proceed with the proposal.

Condemning the false impression that PRM is overzealous in joining Keadilan, he added that Keadilan leadership only issued a statement "commending PRM's plan" at their general assembly which was held a week after the PRM national congress.

"Hence some Keadilan members insist that PRM should just dissolve and sign up as their members due to the perception that PRM is small and eager to join them. This could cause PRM members to harbour much resentment against the merger as they might feel they are not respected [by Keadilan members]," he said.

In his article published in the April edition of the party organ Suara PRM , Rustam countered the views of certain quarters who suggested that PRM should dissolve itself and join Keadilan en bloc .

"We are talking about a new entity here. People have to understand this," he said.

He added that PRM will hold its national congress in June to brief the party's members on the progress of the merger, with the hope that Keadilan, too, will be able to achieve a consensus at their general assembly so that the merger will be completed by year end as scheduled.