Anwar seeks BN defectors to topple Abdullah

Anwar seeks BN defectors to topple Abdullah

Posted by Raja Petra
Thursday, 20 March 2008

Opposition picks Anwar's wife as official leader in new Parliament

DE FACTO opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is cementing an official alliance as he tries to attract enough government lawmakers to defect to the opposition, in a bid to topple Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

'Give it another week for it to be finalised,' Datuk Seri Anwar said of an official agreement, adding that the 'next few weeks are very critical' in determining the extent of any swing by Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs to his opposition.

He said that some BN lawmakers have approached the opposition about leaving the government.

The three opposition parties won 82 of 222 parliamentary seats in the elections and are 30 seats shy of a majority that would hand them control of Parliament.

The possibility has been raised amid widespread grumbles within BN's ranks, especially in Sabah.

Datuk Seri Anwar yesterday did not say how many MPs had voiced a willingness to defect.

'They are approaching us because they realise - for Sabah and Sarawak - we have a better deal for them,' he said, adding that the opposition would offer them more royalties from Borneo's natural resources, more development and more help for the poor.

However, political experts do not think the opposition can persuade enough BN MPs to defect, especially in Sarawak, where its chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is a BN stalwart whose son has been appointed a deputy minister.

The opposition meanwhile appears to be giving Datuk Seri Anwar its full support, even though he cannot hold political office until next month.

Leaders of the three parties in the coalition, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), have agreed to make PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail the next parliamentary opposition leader - until her husband Datuk Seri Anwar wins a parliamentary seat, according to a statement released by the opposition and quoted by online newspaper Malaysiakini.

In a separate statement, previous parliamentary opposition leader and DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said: ' Wan Azizah is the ideal candidate as the new parliamentary opposition leader with PKR having the most parliamentary seats of the three opposition parties in Parliament.'

Datuk Seri Anwar, 60, who was fired in 1998 as deputy premier by then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, could not participate in the March 8 general elections because of a conviction on corruption charges, which he denies.

He has said that he plans to run for one of the seats currently held by his party when the ban ends in the middle of next month.

His wife Wan Azizah has already offered her Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, which she retained with a convincing majority of 13,388 votes at the last election.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, however, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said he was confident of the loyalty of BN lawmakers, and said there was no danger of any of them defecting to the opposition.

'Why should the government topple?' he said, referring to Datuk Seri Anwar's claims.

'He (Anwar) claims so many things. Let him claim whatever he wants.'

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Umno could face string of resignations

FORMER home minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad resigned as Umno's secretary-general yesterday, a day after his name was dropped from the Cabinet list, raising questions whether more will follow suit.

While party insiders said this was an 'isolated case', political analysts warn it could be the first of several such resignations facing the Barisan Nasional and its main component party Umno.

Indeed, another Umno leader, former Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamad Khir Toyo, 42, quit as Umno state liaison chief yesterday. In Selangor, BN suffered a shocking defeat at the general elections, losing 30 of 56 state seats it contested.

'Such resignations may become contagious because of the frustration over Umno's performance in the elections,' said political analyst Mohammad Agus Yusoff of the National University Malaysia.

The Centre for Public Policy Studies director Ms Tricia Yeoh described the resignation as a 'tell-tale sign of challenges coming the PM's way'.

At a news conference yesterday, Datuk Seri Radzi, 66, said, the prime minister has accepted his resignation.

'I feel that I cannot work effectively any more in the present circumstances,' he said.

Datuk Seri Radzi, who said he will remain in the party and continue to be an MP, is the first top-level official in BN to quit after the March 8 elections.

He denied his move was due to a split within Umno but hinted that interference from various parties had prompted his decision.

'In politics you see all sorts of things...a lot of rubbish, and I didn't feel comfortable,' he said.

Datuk Seri Radzi, who is the Perlis MP for Kangar, was seen as having had a hand in the appointment of the new Perlis Menteri Besar Md Isa Sabu.

The former MB Shahidan Kassim, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's pick for the post, had been involved in a public row with Datuk Seri Radzi.

HAZLIN HASSAN, THE STRAITS TIMES