Paper calls for BA to register as a party
The working paper, which tackles the structural problems and future prospects of BA, will be submitted to the coalition's leadership soon, a member of the group told malaysiakini yesterday.
It is a compilation of findings from a Peninsula-wide questionnaire survey involving 725 respondents, conducted by some 40 Keadilan and PAS Youth members and academicians.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the intention of the paper was to raise concern over the status of BA which, it argues, is a drawback for the coalition if it is not seen in the future as one stronger entity than what it is now.
"Voters will get confused when they see different opposition party logos (when they vote). We have to be ready and be seen as one. People will ask if we can't even solve our logo issue, how can they expect us to settle the distribution of seats?" said the source.
"Some people are also speculating that if BA wins in the next elections, Keadilan will return to Umno and transform it into a 'reformed Umno'. We must therefore act as a party and strengthen the members' morale to prove this view wrong," added the source.
Keadilan was born after ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's sacking in 1998 caused a bitter divide in Umno between his loyalists and those of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
BA consists of four parties - Keadilan, PRM, PAS and DAP. The pact was first made known to Malaysians before the general elections in November 1999. The coalition has a total of 42 out of 193 members of parliament (MP).
BA has since witnessed many changes in the pact, and up ahead is the merger of Keadilan and PRM to be reborn as Parti Keadilan Rakyat Malaysia.
Legality issue
The working paper also warns that a legality issue may be raised over the legitimacy of BA to appoint the country's prime minister and to form the government should it gain a majority in Parliament in 2004.
"Even if BA wins more seats than Barisan Nasional (BN), it may have legal problems forming the government because it is still considered as a few component parties rather than one party like BN," explained the source.
"This is a valid issue and we should not ignore it because we also do not want the situation of 'horse trading' to happen, with BA MPs hopping into the other camp to join BN," the source added.
According to the source, Keadilan deputy president Dr Chandra Muzaffar has seen the working paper.
"We wanted to present it to the party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail but she was busy with some other issues at the time, particularly the Internal Security Act (ISA) detention of reformasi leaders," said the source.
When asked if the proposal would be made public and presented to the party members, the source said, "we will need to deal with the leaders first and probably have a convention to address all the members when the time is right.
"In fact, a lot of people would want to see BA become a party of its own. We have something to achieve far greater than the interests of different parties," added the source.
The source also said although the working paper was finished in early May, the group which was responsible for drafting it chose to release it at "the right time" as certain issues raised in it could backfire if they are not handled carefully.
"We could have presented working paper to the public last month but we decided to hold it because PAS was going to have its annual general assembly soon. Some of the issues could be explosive, so to speak," the source said.
The PAS 47th annual general assembly was held over the recent weekend from May 31 to June 3.
At the press conference after opening the assembly, party president Fadzil Noor had said BA needs at least three more parties to form an official front, as the law requires that any coalition to be registered must have a minimum of seven political parties.
He was quoted as saying, "If there are political parties prepared to join us and we are satisfied with their objectives, we will accept (them) and make the coalition a reality."
