The Kulim magistrate's court today issued a warrant of arrest for ex-Keadilan leader Ruslan Kassim for failing to turn up in court to face charges for rioting during the Lunas by-election in 2000.

Judge Ainiah Yunus issued the warrant for Ruslan and another Keadilan leader, N Gobalakrishnan, who was also absent.

Ainiah later postponed the trial to April 14 and requested their lawyers - L. Prabakaran and Cheah Kah Peng, to ensure that their clients attend court next time.

Cheah, who is also Penang Keadilan deputy chief said the lawyers were unaware why their clients were absent.

He also informed the judge that the lawyers were withdrawing their representation for Ruslan.

"On behalf of the lawyers representing the defendants, we are no longer representing Ruslan in this case," he added.

Met outside the court, Cheah said the lawyers no longer found it possible to represent Ruslan as he has defected to Umno.

"He betrayed the struggle for justice by joining Umno," he added.

Ruslan was the party's information chief before his recent defection to Umno with 12 others. They were welcomed into Umno by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday.

Polling day incident

The Keadilan leaders were charged with "rioting" under the Penal Code when they stopped a number of buses filled with alleged phantom voters during the Lunas by-election in Kedah two years ago.

Others include Keadilan vice-presidents Tian Chua and Azmin Ali, Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor and five other opposition activists.

They were charged with participating in an illegal assembly on Nov 29 between 6.30am and 9am at Taman Mewah, Kulim, Kedah, during which they allegedly stopped 14 buses with passengers who were on their way to the Barisan Nasional office at Taman Sri Seladang, Lunas, Kulim.

Nov 29 was polling day for the Lunas constituency following the death of its BN state assembly representative Dr Joe Fernandez.

The opposition had alleged that the buses were filled with phantom voters and lodged reports with the police.

However, 10 of them were later arrested in December 2000 under sections 147 for "rioting" and 342 for "wrongful confinement".

The first charge carries a two-year jail sentence or a fine, or both; the second, a jail term of up to one year or a fine of RM2,000, or both.

In the hotly contested by-election, the opposition Keadilan candidate Saifuddin Nasution scored an upset victory over the ruling coalition's MIC candidate S Anthonysamy with a tissue-thin majority of 530 votes.