The so-called non-Abim faction in Keadilan Youth were victorious in today's elections for the wing's executive committee with two non-Malay candidates securing the highest votes.

Diong Chi Tzuoh took pole position with 285 votes followed by S Manikavasagam (277) and Abdul Ghani Haroon (271).

Out of the 20 in the final list, 18 are pro-reformasi leaders who are not linked to Abim.

Prior to the elections, there were reports that members of the Malaysian Youth Islamic movement (Abim) were eager to win the contests for all party posts in order to 'Abimise' the party.

This was however rejected by the party leadership who maintained that there were no factionalism in Keadilan.

Nevertheless, the candidate lists for elections were inundated with members representing the Abim interest and that of the non-Abim group.

Diong said he was grateful that the members appreciated the contributions of non-Malays in the party.

He added the new line-up which is dominated by pro-reformasi leaders indicated that the delegates wanted to send a clear message to the leadership that political activism was what they wanted.

According to Diong, the youth wing would push for the merger process between the party and PRM to be completed in three months.

"We will also try to recruit more non-Malays into the party," he told malaysiakini .

Two-year target

Yesterday, malaysiakini reported that Saifuddin Nasution Ismail won the deputy Youth chief post by 78 votes over incumbent Mustaffa Kamil Ayub.

Low Chee Chong got the highest votes for vice-president (248), followed by Muhammad Zahid Md Arip (213) and Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin (172).

Saifuddin today said that he has given himself a two-year time frame to galvanise the youth wing into a competent group which will be ready for the next general elections.

He said the wing's organisational aspect needed to be enhanced and that he was optimistic that the new line-up was the best chosen by delegates to achieve these goals.

The choice of new leaders was an indication that Keadilan members desired a multi-racial party, he stressed.

"It shows that we do not only shout slogans but that the delegates who have given us the mandate to lead reflected the wishes and practices in the party," said Saifuddin, who is also Lunas (Kedah) state assembly representative.

Saifuddin denied there were any disunity in the wing as those elected represented all sections of society.

Big idea

Asked if the reformasi group were represented in the youth wing, Saifuddin said reformasi was a "big idea" and was not exclusive to a certain group only.

Badrul Hisham, 24, the youngest candidate who hails from Rasah (Negeri Sembilan) said he was elated that the delegates were willing to give him a chance to contribute to the party despite his age.

Being a teacher, he said, he realised the importance of education and will utilise his term as exco-member to focus on building the team by increasing their awareness of important issues affecting the rakyat.

The rest of the exco-members are:

Hj Abdul Halim Dawam

Zamil B Ibrahim

Hamidzun Kharuddin

Haji Zakir Yusoff

Sanusi Abdullah

Afandy Yusof

SD Johari MD Yasin

Ridzuan Abu Hassan

Liau Kok Fah

Fariz Musa

Mior Azman Dato Haji Mior Aris

Mat Nasir Tasrip

Badrul Hisham

Norazman Mat Amin

Zakaria Abdul Hamid

Fakrul Azman

Rushdan Mustafa