The Opposition has apparently not been spared from what it called online rumours and lies. A key figure in KeADILan criticised six-month-old pro-reform website Komentar, which has been exposing internal problems within the party, sparking speculation of a split among its top leadership.

In particular, Komentar chastised KeADILan's deputy president Chandra Muzaffar for opposing its president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor.

In one of its postings, "Chandra betrays Anwar's instruction", it claimed that Chandra had purportedly rejected sacked deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's suggestion that the party merge with another Barisan Alternatif component, Parti Rakyat Malaysia. He was said to have remarked that Anwar did not know anything because he was in prison. The article, posted on Jan 24, also reported that other members of the party's supreme council dared not oppose Chandra's stance on the issue.

Ezam had came out to condemn the postings. "They are total lies and an exaggeration on the part of the writer," he told malaysiakini.

"I have been sitting in all the meetings of the party and nothing of this sort happened," he said in response to the purported comment allegedly made by Chandra.

He added that the Internet postings had been discussed in the party's Supreme Council meeting but the party had decided not to take any action. "We have decided to let it be because information like this will lose credibility after a while," he said, adding that it was impossible for the party to eliminate the problem.

When asked who were the culprits in posting such information on the websites, Ezam said, "I really don't know." He was, however, quoted in The Star newspaper last Saturday that the postings were believed to have been done by members who were dissatisfied with certain party decisions and wanted to vent their frustrations on the party.

"They could have also been planted there by Umno or even done by people from the outside and this is difficult to identify," the newspaper quoted Ezam.

Komentar also claimed that party vice president Marina Yusoff, secretary general Annuar Tahir and legal advisor Zainur Zakaria had manipulated their positions for political gains. It alleged that Marina used dirty tricks in her election campaign, Annuar couldn't tell the difference between facts and lies, while Zainur frustrated pro-reformasi supporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, the articles posted on Komentar has been picked up by other pro-reformasi websites, sparking criticisms from supporters that such websites should not post anti-opposition articles.

However, editor of the suspended magazine Detik, Ahmad Lufti Othman, said that such discussions provided an effective venue for explanation in order to eliminate confusion, rather than allowing the "rumour markets" to be filled with baseless reports.

"Although from one angle, it may seem that the articles had negative implications on reformasi, but they should not spark excessive controversy," Lufti said in an article posted in reformasi website Laman Reformasi.

"Inaccurate information can be rectified, misinterpretation can be straightened out," he added.

Last week, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad lamented that the Opposition was using the Internet to spread lies. It was alleged that reformasi websites had spread rumours that he had fallen off a horse while on holiday in Argentina and some had even speculated he had died. The Prime Minister refuted the claims, saying that he was fine during his seven-day stay in Argentina.