Open the floor to questions at a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) ceramah and one issue that never fails to arise is if the party's struggles are concerned with a single individual - Anwar Ibrahim.

The former deputy premier who fell from grace in 1998, may be ill and languishing in prison but public curiosity remains piqued by the incident that gave birth to the opposition party.

True enough, the issue dominated the question-and-answer session at a ceramah by Keadilan candidate for the Petaling Jaya Selatan parliamentary constituency R Sivarasa, who is also party vice-president, last night.

The lawyer-cum politician told the 80-odd crowd gathered at Wisma Peladang that contrary to popular belief that this was turning out to be a 'no-issues election', the opposition had more than enough things to raise apart from the ex-deputy premier.

"Anwar, journalists say, has been forgotten, hence the lack of hard issues for the opposition this time around.

"But there are plenty of issues. Earlier today, we saw the huge disparity in wealth distribution around the Kampung Medan area, where people were living in cramped spaces and squalid conditions," he said.

Sivarasa, 47, is attempting to unseat Donald Lim, the Barisan Nasional incumbent for the parliamentary seat. Lim defeated Dr Syed Husin Ali by a majority of 3,845 votes in 1999.

'Great injustices'

Guest speaker Chew Swee Yoke told the audience that she could not be at peace with herself as long as Anwar remained in prison

"I'm no fan of Anwar but the injustices are simply too great to ignore," said the lawyer, who is not a Keadilan member.

Chew said after sitting through two weeks of evidence during the royal commission of inquiry into Anwar's black-eye incident in 1999 - together with counsels Karpal Singh and Zainur Zakaria - she was so perturbed that she completely "stopped sending greeting cards".

Another speaker, former MP for PJ Utara and Chinese educationist Dr Kua Kia Soong echoed her views on the Anwar issue.

"I'm not a member of any political party nor am I an Anwar fan, but as long as he sits in prison, we cannot be at peace with ourselves," he said.

He also reminded the crowd about Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's past actions and remarks.

"Do you all remember what the new DPM Najib was doing in 1987, when I was detained under the Internal Security Act?" he asked.

Kua was referring to reports that Najib had then uttered inflammatory remarks about the Chinese community.

Islamic state

Also raised were questions about Keadilan's partnership with the Muslim-based PAS in the opposition coalition Barisan Alternatif (BA).

To this, Sivarasa said his party does not support the Islamic state, which PAS aimed to establish should it come into power.

"I've been asked if the coalition with PAS meant (that we supported) an Islamic state. The answer is no. Our ideologies are different but we have common goals as the opposition," he explained.

Following this, he drew the crowd's attention to a report by an election watchdog that discovered electoral fraud in three constituencies - Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur, Gombak in Selangor and Tanah Merah in Kelantan.

The study , commissioned in February last year by Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel), was based on a random sampling of voters.

The report was released four days after parliament was dissolved on March 4.

Sivarasa said despite a press conference attended by at least 50 journalists, only malaysiakini published the report.

"All this while, we only heard about electoral fraud or harboured our suspicions, but this is the first time hard evidence has been produced in Malaysia.

"Unfortunately, it comes a bit late. Mafrel has also filed a complaint with the Election Commission. It has not responded," he added.

In a clever twist, he appealed to voters to support him and other opposition candidates if they were sincere in wanting to "Help the PM keep House".

"If you really want to support (Prime Minister) PM Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) to fight corruption, vote for the opposition to ensure greater check and balance in the government," he said.

He added that the BN will face no problems in forming the next government, but "the electorate must vote in more opposition voices so that we can collectively stop the rot".

Syed Husin also addressed the crowd last night on issues of corruption and the 'tremendous abuse' of the country's wealth.