Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua said that the authorities were afraid of the imminent merger between Keadilan and PRM as the combination is expected to be a potent force that will threaten the ruling front.

Tian Chua, who is currently serving a two-year detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA), said in a letter to PRM activists recently that "the enemy wants to see us fail" and "they are more desperate than us".

"Merge or not, both PRM and Keadilan will survive, though as much weaker forces. For them, it is a question of life and death," he said.

"They will try their best to obstruct the merger. This was clear during our interrogation," he revealed and claimed that the other five ISA detainees had similar experiences when grilled on the matter by the Special Branch police officers.

Tian Chua was among 10 Keadilan leaders and reformasi activists detained in an ISA dragnet launched by the police in early April. Four have since been released while the others, including Keadilan Youth chief, Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, are being held at the Kamunting detention camp in Perak.

'Enemy's trap'

In the nine-page letter, Tian said he understands that some Keadilan members "fell into the enemy's trap".

"They showed their egoism, narrow-mindedness and ignorance in rejecting PRM," he said, adding that "we need to educate, change them for they are our alliance. They are still our comrade in arms in our common struggle against dictatorship".

The merger which was proposed early last year saw protest from a faction within Keadilan who alleged that PRM's ideology was a "godless" one. While several PRM members had also objected saying that the merger would cause the party to lose its identity.

On June 24, during Keadilan's special annual general meeting (AGM), 63 percent of the party's delegates voted in support of the key resolution to'accept and agree to the merger'.

On the second resolution whether to accept and agree to constitutional changes that will arise from the merger", 62 percent voted in favour.

Prior to the AGM, malaysiakini learnt that a pro-Islamic faction in Keadilan was lobbying intensely against the merger claiming that PRM was a communist party.

It was also learnt that some 40 percent of the delegates failed to vote a two-third majority on the second resolution due to their unwillingness to have the name of the party changed from Parti Keadilan Nasional to Parti Keadilan Rakyat Nasional.

Delegates also preferred to maintain the colour of their flag. The resolution was supposed to call for two red stripes to be added to the borders of the blue flag, symbolising PRM's presence in the party.

Party building

Tian said the existence of such misunderstanding indicated the need for Keadilan to learn more about PRM.

"For now, our work should be both, mobilisation and sharing PRM's struggles. If we can pull all our energy and brain power together, we could ensure a progressive future," he stressed.

Tian added that he regretted that both parties had consumed much time debating whether to merge or not rather than finding ways to make the merger effective.

He acknowledged that despite much energy and support, Keadilan as a new party has many inexperienced leaders and activists, therefore it needed assistance to build a "struggling political culture".

Keadilan was currently competing with PAS and DAP to establish itself, said the opposition leader.

"Healthy competition is not a bad thing but we have to ask ourselves, is this the time to put party-building first?" he queried.

"By spending more energy to build PRM or Keadilan's membership, we are bound to neglect some aspects of the overall struggle against the regime," he added.

The merger will be the main focus of delegates attending PRM's 34th national congress tomorrow.

About 150 delegates and an equal number of observers from 30 divisions will be discussing to adopt the central committee's resolution to support the merger, which will be presented to the Congress by secretary-general Dr Sanusi Osman.