The Registrar of Societies (ROS) has rejected the appeal by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) to keep its proposed acronym and insisted that the newly merged opposition party find a new one.

Keadilan deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali told malaysiakini an official from the ROS had verbally informed the opposition party that its request to keep 'Keadilan' (justice) as its acronym cannot be accepted.

"When our secretary-general Abdul Rahman (Othman) spoke to the officer over the phone about the matter, the officer said that we cannot appeal, and that we need to find another name," he said when contacted today.

"The officer had flatly rejected Abdul Rahman's request for the party to be called 'Keadilan'. They do not want justice for everyone but themselves," decried Syed Husin.

Confirming this, Abdul Rahman said although there was no official rejection from the ROS, the conversation clearly showed that their appeal had been rejected.

"We have decided to appeal to the home minister and will be sending the appeal letter by this week. This is only for formality's sake because it (the appeal) is provided for by the Societies Act. Of course, we have other plans like mounting a campaign, but we will reveal it later in due time."

Painful two-year merger

Parti Keadilan Rakyat was launched on Aug 3 after the completion of a painful two-year merger process between two opposition parties - Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan) and the Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).

Without ROS' approval, the two newly merged parties will have to contest under their old banners in the upcoming general election.

On Sept 15, ROS informed Keadilan that its application to amend its constitution - which in turn will make way for the formation of the merged entity - was rejected stating that the suggested acronym was unacceptable.

The new party has opted to retain 'Keadilan' - the name previously used by Parti Keadilan Nasional - as its shortened name, instead of PKR.

Adamant

to keep that name, Keadilan sent an appeal to ROS on Sept 19.

Legal action the last resort

The new party is now led by a 62-member transitional headed by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as president with Dr Syed Husin Ali as deputy president.

Asked if the party plans to take the matter to court, Syed Husin said that will be the last resort.

"We will rally for public support to keep our name until the merger is officially approved. This is not an application of a new entity. This is just an application to amend a party's constitution to allow another party to join them. They have no reason to justify the rejection."

He said the manner the application is being handled by ROS showed its "utter disrespect to the people's democratic rights".

"It took them 10 months to respond to our application by telling us that 'Keadilan' is not a suitable name. But when we met them a few months back, they said there was nothing wrong with our application. They also admitted that they needed to get the green light from the Special Branch ," he said.

"If the Special Branch is delaying the approval, then we demand that it declares why our application is rejected," he said.

Nevertheless, Syed Husin said Keadilan will not allow the registration hiccup to derail its plans to launch meetings at the state level to explain the party's vision and mission to its rank and file.