Malaysian PM confident ruling coalition can weather political turmoil

TOKYO : Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has said he is confident the ruling coalition can weather the current political turmoil.

This is despite losing its two thirds majority in Parliament in March, for the first time in 40 years.

Mr Abdullah was speaking at an international symposium in Tokyo.

The Prime Minister said, "We are short of two thirds by eight seats. We have 140 seats in parliament. And compared to 80 that oppositions has...why are you making so much noise. This is something that shocked everybody because it didn't happen before. I tried to make sure that with this majority we have, the government can be a strong government. We can succeed. That's not a problem for us."

On the impact of the shock resignation of his predecessor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad from ruling party UMNO last Monday, Mr Abdullah said he does not expect MPs to follow suit.

Mr Abdullah said, "People love UMNO. They will not abandon the party. That's the position. The members of parliament may be very critical about me. But (they won't) leave the party."

Dr Mahathir is also in Tokyo, and he spoke to the Foreign Correspondents Club about why he quit UMNO.

He said, "I left the party because… I was a member from the time it was founded in 1946; (it) has now changed in character. It's no longer democratic. It exists merely to legitimise everything the president, prime minister does.

"Now there is political turmoil because there's no respect for a prime minister regarded as very weak. This is all due to the incapability of the prime minister to lead a multiracial coalition."

The former prime minister also accused his successor of imposing restrictions on him.

Dr Mahathir said, "What's worse is that, although I've been in the party for a long time, I've stepped down voluntarily. He doesn't allow me to see party members, leaders. He prevents party leaders from seeing me. He's trying to impose restrictions on his party for saying anything against him." - CNA/ms

Michiyo Ishida
Channel NewsAsia
23/05/08