Keadilan today claimed a "technical error" was behind the leakage of former vice-president Dr Chandra Muzaffar's letter of resignation as a member of the party to the media last week.

Supreme council member Khalid Jaafar said the party leadership would resolve the matter soon.

"I believe the information leaked due to some technical error. We will find out the source of the leak and ensure that such a situation does not recur," he said when contacted.

Utusan Malaysia today quoted Chandra as saying he was perplexed how the matter (which was reported last Friday) had leaked since only party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and secretary-general Sahri Bahri were aware of his resignation.

Chandra said he faxed the resignation letter to Wan Azizah on Dec 5 and a copy was also sent to Sahri on the same day.

"Resigning from a party is an individual right and cannot be prevented by anyone. I am no longer a Keadilan member," the daily quoted him as saying.

The former Universiti Malaya lecturer also said he would call for a press conference soon to state in detail his reasons for leaving the party.

However, a source told malaysiakini that the resignation was prompted by a misunderstanding between party leaders.

According to the source, this was also the reason why Chandra decided not to contest at the party elections last month.

"He was frustrated with the way some Keadilan leaders conducted the administration of the party," said the source.

'Minor issue'

Meanwhile, Khalid today paid tribute Chandra for his contribution to the party since its formation in 1999.

Describing him as a "true reformist", Khalid added that Chandra helped build Keadilan into a a strong opposition party.

On whether the resignation was discussed at the party's recent supreme council meeting, Khalid said the issue was not in the agenda.

"We have so many urgent issues to address and the party felt that Dr Chandra's resignation was just a minor one," he said.

Chandra is noted to be one of the instrumental forces behind the creation of Keadilan after the sacking and jailing of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

In the 1999 general elections, Chandra contested for the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat, but lost to Barisan Nasional's Tan Chai Ho despite garnering 21,049 votes, just 1,224 less than the latter's.

He was also the president of the Penang-based reform movement Aliran. He now helms the International Movement for A Just World (Just).