The release of vice-president Tian Chua and supreme council member Saari Sungib from their Internal Security Act detention will strengthen Keadilan, said a party leader.

Vice-president Azmin Ali said this was contrary to the government's perception that the four-year-old opposition party was no longer a formidable adversary.

"That's what they would like to believe," he said when asked yesterday whether the release was due to the impression that the party was weak.