DAP leaders and members are unwittingly undermining the opposition coalition and providing ammunition to Barisan Nasional by venting their anger against Keadilan through the media, an opposition leader said today.

Keadilan deputy president Dr Chandra Muzaffar said the party does not believe in engaging in open warfare with its coalition partners.

"We respect the right of DAP leaders and members to air their views about their relationship with Keadilan or other partners in the coalition, but this is better done within the confines of the individual component parties and the coalition itself," he told malaysiakini .

Chandra was commenting on a report in The Star newspaper today that Keadilan is expected to receive more flak when DAP's Indian leaders meet party chairman Lim Kit Siang in Ipoh tomorrow to discuss the dropping of the party's candidate S Neelamekan in the Lunas by-election last month.

Neelamekan was later replaced by Keadilan's Saiffudin Nasution Ismail who went on the win the state assembly seat.

DAP's national and state leaders are also scheduled to meet for two days from Saturday in Port Dickson to review the party's position in BA.

Expectation

Chandra, however, expressed hope that DAP would remain within the coalition.

"BA needs DAP and DAP needs BA," he said.

Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua also said that although ultimately it is up to the individual party to decide on its position within the coalition, there are a lot of expectations that DAP will remain in BA.

"I have confidence in the DAP leadership. DAP has a lot in common with other BA component parties on various issues, for example, the judiciary and democracy.

"However, we will find ways to work together and to minimise the negative effect. BA will not be weakened," Tian told malaysiakini .

He added that DAP's forthcoming meetings will serve as an opportunity for DAP leaders to clarify matters with its grassroots.

Meanwhile, PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali said that he was quite confident wisdom will eventually prevail.

"We (BA) were formed less than two years ago. Certainly there will be some problems but I don't think it will lead to very serious consequences," he said.

Merit

Asked if PRM would act as mediator between DAP and Keadilan, Syed Husin said, "We don't normally publicise our role.

"We hope that members and leaders of all the component parties will not act harshly. There's a lot of merit of having BA and being in BA. People who are serious about an alternative government will definitely support BA," he said.

DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock refused to comment when contacted today.

PAS president Fadzil Noor also said that he preferred not to comment on the issue, but expressed hope that DAP will stay on with BA.