I would like to comment on Abdul Rahman Abdul Talib's letter dated July 8 in reply to Suresh Gnasegarah's letter.

Abdul Rahman is right when he says that it is unfair for Suresh to put the brunt of the blame on PAS for the woes currently facing BA or to be precise, Keadilan-PRM within the BA.

The current weakness and disarray in Keadilan-PRM is more their own doing rather than something imposed upon them by big brother PAS. I want to identify three weakness post-1999 elections which have afflicted Keadilan, and to a lesser extent PRM:

1) The inability to move beyond a 'Free-Anwar' platform - Although the urgent issue of the day during the 1999 elections was the unjust jailing of the former deputy prime minister. A political party that has national aspirations cannot remain as an one-issue party. The inability of Keadilan to respond in a coherent fashion to the various policies enunciated by the government since 1999 is shocking for a party that wants to have national representation. When was the last time that a Keadilan MP (besides Wan Azizah) made a press statement of any significance regarding a policy of national importance?

2) The inability to mobilise and organise themselves both on a grassroots and national level - A political party like any other organistion, needs a good organistional structure for it to function properly and be effective in servicing its constituencies. By my observations, Keadilan has not managed to carry this out either on a grassroots basis or a national basis. Except for a few places like Bandar Tun Razak and Lembah Pantai, Keadilan's presence in the local areas is almost non-existent. Any talks of Keadilan wanting to focus its efforts on Penang will most probably be greeted with amusement by the Penang grassroots in the island - Keadilan who? Never seen them around here.

Their inability to disseminate information on a national level is evidenced by their web strategy - or the lack thereof. After the proliferation of many pro-Anwar sites during the hey day of the reformasi movement, the Keadilan website is now a pornography site. One has to depend on the pemuda Keadilan website which has updated news on happenings in the country but has limited official party responses. The last Pemuda press release was dated June 19. The party which is supposed to represent the younger generation of voters can't even get its web strategy in place. How can Keadilan ask the rakyat to place our trust in their hands when it comes to running a state or national government?

3) The inability to merge in a smooth transition. In any merger, there would be issues that need to be ironed out in terms of party organisation, leadership, constitution, branches, membership etc But in view of the upcoming elections, one would have thought that the imperative for Keadilan and PRM to get their act together on this merger would have been stronger. Most parties including PAS and DAP are stepping up their elections preparation while Keadilan and PRM have not properly resolved their merger issues. With less than 10 months to go before the next elections (in April or May next year as most speculate), the impact that this merged entity will have come elections is likely to be minimal.

In this context, it is perhaps not very surprising from a very cynical political perspective to see why the ISA detention of the six Keadilan leaders was not renewed. With the current state of affairs in Keadilan-PRM, the political impact that these leaders can make is likely to be insignificant.

This state of affairs is sad for us who genuinely wanted to see a viable multi-ethnic party emerge as a credible alternative to the current choices in the political mix.