Keadilan faction lobbying against merger with PRM
Keadilan leaders are not confident that delegates will approve the proposed Keadilan-PRM merger at the party's annual general meeting (AGM) on Sunday, party sources said today.
They said delegates may ask for a postponement of the merger as "branch leaders have not had ample time to explain the merger to the grassroots".
"But this is not the case as we have given them one year to explain. The real reason is that some leaders are afraid of losing their positions if the merger goes through," said a party source.
"There is intense lobbying against the merger at branch levels nationwide by a certain faction in Keadilan. We are afraid when it's time to vote, we'll fail to get the two-thirds majority (to approve the merger)," the source added.
Keadilan delegates will meet at this Sunday's AGM and its supreme council will propose a resolution to the delegates to support the Keadilan-PRM merger.
In the failure of a unanimous decision, Keadilan's constitution states that a two-thirds majority is needed for the resolution to be adopted.
Status quo threatened
Earlier this year, party leaders claimed that the merger efforts could be derailed due to "sentiments on both sides and problems of party structures".
Unlike Keadilan, PRM does not have a Women wing and its Youth wing comprises both men and women.
The sources said leaders of the certain faction would demand for more time to enable them to lobby members at branch levels to oppose the merger.
Asked why there was opposition to the merger, the source said, "These people are playing right into the hands of Barisan Nasional (BN) propaganda. They are saying that PRM is a socialist party and is un-Islamic".
Another party source told malaysiakini that the opposing faction in Keadilan comprised Abim (Malaysian Muslim Youth Association) members.
The source said Abim was instrumental in forming Keadilan and a new set-up brought about by the merger would threaten their status quo.
"They claim their struggle is based on a new political order. However, when there was talk of a merger and of PRM leaders coming into Keadilan, this group felt their leadership being tested," said the source.
Government worried
Another party source said several reformasi activists detained in Kamunting under the Internal Security Act (ISA) supported the merger and their detentions had somewhat distracted the party's efforts in that direction.
"Most of the detainees when interrogated by police Special Branch officers were told that the government was worried about the impending merger of the two Malay-based parties," the source claimed.
Six reformasi activists - Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua, party Youth leaders Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib and Lokman Noor Adam, supreme council member Dr Badrul Amin Baharom and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais - were sent to the Kamunting detention camp in Perak earlier this month for a two-year detention under the ISA on orders of Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Keadilan leaders are not confident that delegates will approve the proposed Keadilan-PRM merger at the party's annual general meeting (AGM) on Sunday, party sources said today.
They said delegates may ask for a postponement of the merger as "branch leaders have not had ample time to explain the merger to the grassroots".
"But this is not the case as we have given them one year to explain. The real reason is that some leaders are afraid of losing their positions if the merger goes through," said a party source.
"There is intense lobbying against the merger at branch levels nationwide by a certain faction in Keadilan. We are afraid when it's time to vote, we'll fail to get the two-thirds majority (to approve the merger)," the source added.
Keadilan delegates will meet at this Sunday's AGM and its supreme council will propose a resolution to the delegates to support the Keadilan-PRM merger.
In the failure of a unanimous decision, Keadilan's constitution states that a two-thirds majority is needed for the resolution to be adopted.
Status quo threatened
Earlier this year, party leaders claimed that the merger efforts could be derailed due to "sentiments on both sides and problems of party structures".
Unlike Keadilan, PRM does not have a Women wing and its Youth wing comprises both men and women.
The sources said leaders of the certain faction would demand for more time to enable them to lobby members at branch levels to oppose the merger.
Asked why there was opposition to the merger, the source said, "These people are playing right into the hands of Barisan Nasional (BN) propaganda. They are saying that PRM is a socialist party and is un-Islamic".
Another party source told malaysiakini that the opposing faction in Keadilan comprised Abim (Malaysian Muslim Youth Association) members.
The source said Abim was instrumental in forming Keadilan and a new set-up brought about by the merger would threaten their status quo.
"They claim their struggle is based on a new political order. However, when there was talk of a merger and of PRM leaders coming into Keadilan, this group felt their leadership being tested," said the source.
Government worried
Another party source said several reformasi activists detained in Kamunting under the Internal Security Act (ISA) supported the merger and their detentions had somewhat distracted the party's efforts in that direction.
"Most of the detainees when interrogated by police Special Branch officers were told that the government was worried about the impending merger of the two Malay-based parties," the source claimed.
Six reformasi activists - Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua, party Youth leaders Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib and Lokman Noor Adam, supreme council member Dr Badrul Amin Baharom and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais - were sent to the Kamunting detention camp in Perak earlier this month for a two-year detention under the ISA on orders of Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Keadilan deputy president Dr Chandra Muzaffar when contacted today said that the party's supreme council leaders have agreed to the merger in principle.
"However, we would have to get the delegates to approve it before we proceed with the actual merger," he said.
"We are in the process of explaining the merger to the grassroots," he added.
He said following the party's AGM last year, the supreme council was given the mandate to explore the idea of a merger with PRM.
Asked if the leadership's decision to support the merger can be overruled by delegates at this year's AGM, Chandra said that, "Yes. It is a democratic process."
