Keadilan supreme council yesterday expressed the need for a "smooth succession" within the party and urged deputy president Dr Chandra Muzaffar to reconsider his decision to quit.

"The cardinal concern of the leaders was that due to factionalism in Keadilan, the vacuum in the leadership may lead to intense fighting for the party posts," Chandra told malaysiakini .

He said that a resolution requesting him to reconsider his decision was tabled unanimously by the party's supreme council members.

"I told the council that I would be prepared to revisit my earlier decision and inform them about my choice within the next few days," said the 54-year-old party deputy leader.

Chandra said there have also been advice from other Barisan Alternatif leaders and members of parliament asking him to stay in his post and continue serving the opposition Barisan Alternatif front.

"Due to the pleas and wishes of the grassroots and leaders, I am doing a bit of reflection on my part," he added.

There are fears that there will not be a smooth transition in leadership should Chandra decide not to contest for the deputy president post at the party's annual general conference next month.

The delay in the merger of Keadilan and PRM, would rule out veteran leaders in the 46-year-old PRM such as president Dr Syed Husin Ali from contesting for party posts.

Constitutional changes

In late June, despite a strong backing for a union with PRM, Keadilan failed to obtain a two-thirds majority at its special general meeting for necessary amendments to its constitution to pave way for the merger.

PRM subsequently reiterated that there will be no merger if Keadilan does not amend its party constitution, among others to include a change of name to Parti Keadilan Rakyat Malaysia and a new logo be adopted.

Several Keadilan leaders who were supportive of the merger, such as vice-president Tian Chua and Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor, are currently being held under the Internal Security Act for two years.

Chandra said last week that he did not intend to run for Keadilan deputy presidency next month as he wanted to concentrate more on international intellectual work.

Chandra, who is also the president for the International Movement for a Just World, has been involved in various other non-governmental organisations, both international and local.

Contract not renewed

He was the founder of social movement Aliran, of which he was the president from 1977 to 1991. He was also a political science lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia from 1970 to 1983.

In 1997, he helped set up the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue at Universiti Malaya and was appointed its founding director. However, his contract was not renewed in 1998.

Chandra subsequently entered politics in 1999 when Keadilan was established after the sacking of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and has since been the party deputy president.

He contested in the general elections that year for the parliamentary seat of Bandar Tun Razak, garnering 21,049 votes, but lost to BN's Tan Chai Ho who won by a wafer-thin majority of 1,224.