Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the yet-to-be-registered merged entity between opposition parties Keadilan and PRM, may be allowed to use the acronym 'Keadilan' after all.

The Registrar of Societies (ROS), which had initially rejected the acronym, made sudden overtures for a compromise this morning, just as the merged entity was about to argue its case in the Shah Alam High Court.

Before the proceedings started, senior federal counsel Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid told judge Suriyadi Halim Omar that the ROS would be offering an out of court settlement to the plaintiff.

"The federal counsel said she received fresh instructions from the ROS yesterday to offer a compromise. The terms will be discussed between our lawyers, the ROS and the federal counsel," Keadilan secretary general Abdul Rahman Othman told malaysiakini .

Should the out of court settlement process fail, the court will hear the matter on March 29.

In seeking a review of the ROS decision, the plaintiff wanted a declaration that the acronym 'Keadilan' can be lawfully adopted by the merged entity, which was launched on Aug 3 last year.

'No' to old name

The ROS had, on Sept 15, informed the entity that the proposed acronym had been rejected and that it should find a new one in order to obtain registration.

The reason cited was that a new entity could not re-use the acronym of a party registered earlier.

After an appeal to both the Home Ministry and the ROS were rejected last November, the entity decided to mount a legal challenge. It obtained leave to do so last December.

The merger came at the end of a two-year process which involved obtaining a mandate from members of the two parties and amendments to (the original) Keadilan's constitution.

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