Criticisms of KeADILan's leadership from anonymous characters are not welcomed, according to a leader of the party which is a key component of the opposition Barisan Alternatif.

"We don't take instructions from people outside the party," Anuar Tahir, secretary-general of KeADILan, told malaysiakini this afternoon.

Anuar was responding to the campaign launched yesterday by four reformasi webmasters who urged him and the party's deputy president, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, to resign from their respective posts.

Yesterday, malaysiakini reported that the webmasters led by the operator of [#1] Laman Reformasi[/#]

or "mahazalim" to black out their websites as a protest against what they claimed as "erosion of the reformasi spirit" as envisioned by the jailed deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. ("[#2] Web reformasi desak 2 pemimpin KeADILan undur[/#] ", May 24)

According to them, Anuar and Chandra failed to obey Anwar's instructions that KeADILan merge with Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

Apparently, the two key leaders had reservations on the merger idea. Nevertheless, the fusion of the two parties is expected to go ahead next month.

The webmasters, which include [#3] Komentar[/#]

, [#4] Pemantau[/#] and [#5] Black 14[/#] , accused Anuar and Chandra of arrogance, putting personal agenda ahead of party interest and "applying ineffective strategies in the (reformasi) struggle".

They claimed that as a result, the party is weakened and members are losing directions. The four webmasters, whose identity is not known, also said that members are now squabbling with one another.

"We don't know who they are," Anuar said of his "accusers", adding that he was unsure whether the webmasters were "planted" by hostile forces or party members.

"People outside the party should not interfere with our administration," he said.

But he was quick to add that the party respects the opinions of other people.

"We are a democracy and people can say what they like. But, there must be some truth (in the allegations), not just creating stories," he added.

Meanwhile, Chandra declined to comment when contacted by malaysiakini . However, he confirmed receiving a protest letter from the four webmasters.

According to KeADILan vice-president Tian Chua, the party is not facing an internal crisis. He added that the identity of the webmasters is unknown to the party.

"They (the webmasters) are free to do what they want and criticise who they want," he said, adding that he respected their right to do so.

However, Chua felt that the webmasters' action was inappropriate.

"We will take the issue (raised by the webmasters) seriously but I don't think the action is appropriate," he said.

"There are various forums in the party to discuss the issue and the matter (raised by the webmasters) should be resolved that way," he said.

He said the party's principles have not changed and they will carry on with the party struggle as before.

Meanwhile, a reformasi activist-cum-political cartoonist, Zunar, said that the webmasters should reconsider their action as the Teluk Kemang by-election is just around the corner.

"The time is not right although 'their action may be right'," he said, adding that the party needed the cooperation of the webmasters since the party does not have access to the mainstream media.

Barisan Alternatif will be fielding Ruslan Kassim from KeADILan against Barisan Nasional's S. Sothinathan from MIC of the BN in the coming by-election.

The opposition is expected to face an uphill task in the contest since BN won the seat by a majority of 9,942 in last November's general elections.