KeADILan leader Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today said that former vice-president Marina Yusoff's "scathing" letter to deputy president Chandra Muzaffar was a "private" matter between the two, and that the issue will not be discuss by the party leadership.

"Publicising the letter is not fair (gempar-gemburkan surat ini adalah tidak adil)," she told malaysiakini today on arriving home this morning from Warsaw where she attended an international forum.

"KeADILan is a new party with diverse views. The recent party's annual general assembly has shown we are stronger," Azizah said.

Marina's letter, dated Jan 13, described in detail her gripes against Chandra, spelling out specific incidents in which she accused the party No. 2 for being insensitive.

Marina told malaysiakini that the letter was held back after being advised by her close friends.

However, she appended the letter to her resignation letter handed to party president Azizah on May 28. Last week, Marina mailed a copy of the letter to Chandra, accompanied by a two-paragraph covering letter dated June 19.

When contacted by malaysiakini today, Azizah said she had called Marina to clarify the real situation.

"Let us put aside the letter, and look forward to strengthening the party. We should concentrate on really important issues like the crisis in the judiciary and (former Anti-Corruption Agency chief) Shafie Yahaya's revelations in court recently," she said.

Shafie had testified at former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial recently that he was ordered by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to stop an investigation of the then Economic Planning Unit head Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman ("[#1] Mahathir ordered halt to corruption probe[/#] ", June 12).

Asked on the allegation made by Marina that she had been treated harshly by Chandra to the point of causing her (Azizah) to burst into tears, Azizah clarified that the event had passed (berlalu), and there was no need to raise the matter again.

"I couldn't remember, and everyone was undergoing tension then. It is normal for someone like me as this was the first time that I had to make a lot of decisions in such a tense atmosphere.

"Let it be, the letter is not for public reading; it is not proper and fair to be read by others," Azizah said.

In Marina's letter, it was stated that: "She (Azizah) kept on listening to you (Chandra) until she reached breaking point and when she screamed, burst into tears and shivered violently. It brought tears to our eyes to see that you could be so cruel to someone who needed our full support and sympathy."

Azizah admitted that the pressure was always on the leadership and different opinions did exist among the leaders then.

Asked whether Chandra did throw files at her face as claimed in Marina's letter, Azizah said "no".

"He (Chandra) didn't, no, no, no, he threw the files with slightly greater force (letak dengan kuat sikit) onto the table.

"Maybe Dr Chandra wanted to show the importance of the matter. Marina was not at the scene. She heard it from somebody else," Azizah related.

Asked if Chandra's leadership is being questioned since the campaign launched by the reformasi webmasters is now followed by the leaking of Marina's letter, Azizah said that the timing of the two was coincidental.

Last month, malaysiakini reported that several webmasters led by the webmaster of Laman Reformasi or "mahazalim" mounted a protest against what they claimed as "erosion of the reformasi spirit", calling on KeADILan secretary general Mohd Anuar Tahir and Chandra to resign from their respective posts. ("[#2] Web reformasi desak 2 pemimpin KeADILan undur[/#] ", May 24).

On her attendance at "World Democracy Forum" in Poland early this week, Azizah reported that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan met her for an unscheduled private discussion shortly after delivering his speech at the forum ("[#3] Azizah meets UN chief[/#] ", June 28).

Azizah also met informally with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for 30 minutes at a dinner hosted by Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek for delegates on Monday night.