Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor has shut down nascent attempts by some factions to severe ties with PAS, which they see as having pulled down their own party's performance in the general elections.

While conceding that there have been rumblings within the merged entity, he said the Youth wing will not press the party leadership to take such drastic action.

"We had a discussion on the election and there were several state representatives who felt that we should reconsider our co-operation with PAS. But that was just their views...the wing has never adopted their sentiment," he said when contacted today.

"What we have concluded is that we have to continue our struggle and reinforce our beliefs. Severing ties with PAS has never been in the picture."

However, he did say that the Youth wing is not blind to the need to improve Barisan Alternatif (BA), the opposition coalition.

"Apart from (examining alleged) rigging that marred the elections, we need to look at the coalition itself. We have to admit that we did some things wrongly. Some decisions made by both parties undermined the spirit of coalition," he said.

"One example is PAS' Islamic state agenda. It was launched and made public without proper negotiations with Keadilan. I must stress that not only Keadilan members have expressed concerns about the issue. There are those within PAS who have expressed the same sentiment."

Mohd Ezam also said BA has failed to project a more moderate image, but said the Youth wing is determined not to repeat this mistake.

"The Keadilan youth force is bent on this. We need to impress the people that we are moderate in our ways and is a better alternative to Barisan Nasional (BN). BA has failed to stress this point."

He admitted that the "process to rectify the coalition" would ruffle a few feathers within PAS.

"Yes, I know this is going to hurt the hardliners in PAS...but not the party itself. As I said earlier not all leaders in the party are hardliners. There are those who are moderate and who have disagreed with some of the approaches taken by the party."

Pushed by PRM faction

Youth information chief Latheefa Koya said it has been difficult for Keadilan to project itself as a political party free of racial bias.

"Our image is drowned within our association with PAS. The mainstream media seems to stress that whatever PAS says is also Keadilan's stand, which is untrue. There are many things that we don't agree with, but unfortunately that is never highlighted," she said.

"The situation has made many of us rethink our pact with PAS. We feel that we cannot continue on the present basis. Of course we can work together on issues like corruption and injustice but we must draw a clear line when it comes to matters like the Islamic state and hudud."

A party insider claimed that the call to severe ties with PAS was pushed by the "PRM faction" within the Youth wing.

"It is this faction that is pressing the leaders to opt for drastic action. They are the main opponents to the PAS Islamic state agenda and they are taking advantage of the poor election results to strengthen their position," said the source, who is closed to the Youth top leadership.

"They are also upset with PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat's statement about their leader Dr Syed Husin Ali just before the election. So they have an axe to grind."

Just before the general election, Nik Aziz had openly expressed disagreement with Keadilan's plan to field Syed Husin in the Kota Bharu parliamentary seat, saying his "socialist background" could dissuade Kelantanese from voting for BA.

Keadilan eventually fielded Nik Mahmood Nik Hassan, who lost to BN's high profile lawyer Zaid Ibrahim.

'Build confidence'

The source said the sentiment of these factions has made the majority in Keadilan - said to have a cordial relationship with PAS - very uncomfortable.

"Of course there are ways to improve the coalition, but offending our partner will not help. I hope they will stop this talk about severing ties," the source added.

Youth vice-president Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin said severing ties would not serve any purpose for either Keadilan or PAS.

"What we need to do is strengthen the coalition. The election results signaled that the people have no confidence in the coalition. We must find ways to boost public confidence in us," he said.

"We need a plan of action to make the opposition parties stronger, including DAP. That and to challenge the election irregularities should be our main focus now, nothing else."

Like Ezam, Shamsul hoped that PAS would re-think its actions in presenting its policies to the public.

"They (PAS) must do some soul-searching themselves. That's what we in Keadilan must do as well. It's not that we want to stop them from implementing their agenda but they must also consider the interest of BA. Every step it takes will affect the coalition as a whole."