Badawi refuses to step down, and wants to decide on transition

By SHAHANAAZ HABIB, IZATUN SHARI and ROYCE CHEAH

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stood firm, saying he would decide when to hand over power to his deputy, but a number of supreme council members said the understanding was for the transition to be sooner than later.

The Umno president said he was aware of the sentiments of the grassroots and was keeping his ears close to the ground.

“I am paying heed to what is happening and the current situation. And whatever decision I make, I will discuss it with Datuk Seri Najib (Tun Razak) and then bring it up to the Umno supreme council,” he said Thursday at a press conference after chairing a council meeting.

Abdullah reiterated that he would contest for the Umno presidency in the December party elections.

He stressed that he had already made that clear at a press conference the previous day, noting that Umno divisions have not started their meetings yet and as the (country’s) leader he would continue to implement what was needed. [more]

You can run, but you cannot hide:- PM: No need for emergency session of Parliament

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR:There is no need to call for an emergency session of Parliament because the next session is soon anyway, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

He told this to reporters Thursday after the Umno supreme council at PWTC.

Earlier on Thursday, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had told reporters at a press conference at the PKR headquarters that he had sent a letter to the Prime Minister requesting for an emergency session of Parliament to be held by Sept 23 to deliberate on a motion of no-confidence against Abdullah’s leadership.

The Dewan Rakyat is scheduled to resume its sitting on Oct 13.

To a question on whether Anwar would be arrested under the ISA, the Prime Minister said there was no suggestion from him to use the ISA on anyone. [more]

Anwar Ibrahim Press Release On His Letter Requesting An Emergency Parliament Session

PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA, 18 SEPTEMBER 2008

Today Pakatan Rakyat leaders have submitted a letter to the Prime Minister requesting him to call an emergency session of Parliament to deliberate a motion of censure against the leadership of YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi no later than Tuesday 23 September 2008.

This is in accordance with Order 11(3) of the Standing Orders of Parliament and warrants an immediate response given the gravity of today’s political impasse. A delay in his response would be interpreted as nothing short of a further sabotage of the democratic process and abuse of Executive Power.

The Prime Minister’s haggling on the syntax of our first letter is puerile at best. The intent of our meeting as described in that letter was clearly to discuss the future course of the nation’s leadership – though in deference to his position and in accordance with acceptable norms we remain considerate and polite in our approach.

I find the Prime Minister’s comment about me in his press conference yesterday to be reckless and irresponsible in light of the disastrous outcome of last Friday’s ISA raids.

He has conflated what is essentially an issue of democracy, freedom and the rule of law with national security. The use of the ISA to harass and detain duly elected political opponents is a grave transgression of the law and its continued use would further erode confidence in the current government and exacerbate political instability.

As the incumbent Prime Minister actively holding office and exercising all Executive powers, and as the outgoing Finance Minister, we hold him fully accountable for the current political turmoil and mismanagement of the nation’s economy. His accusation that I have had an adverse impact on the nation’s economy is entirely without basis.

I have met with the key fund managers in the region, representing over USD 1 trillion in assets, and on multiple occasions they were unanimously in support of comprehensive reforms in Malaysia including judicial independence, a free media, a more professional police force and anti-corruption agency, investor friendly laws and assurances on the non-interference of politicians in the governance of Bank Negara. These are policies Pakatan Rakyat has promised to implement– and initiatives that the current administration has done virtually nothing to advance since March 8th.

ANWAR IBRAHIM
Leader of Opposition
De-facto leader, Keadilan

Malaysia attempts to muzzle opposition by arresting second blogger

BBC News

Another blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, was detained last week. An opposition blogger has been arrested for allegedly displaying a national flag upside down on his website, as the government comes under more pressure.

Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, better known as Kickdefella, is the second blogger to be arrested in a week.

The Malaysian opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, is demanding a vote of no confidence in the government.

Mr Anwar says he now has the support of enough MPs to bring down Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Mr Syed Aziz, picked up late on Wednesday, is being held under the Sedition Act.

He is known as a supporter of the conservative Islamic PAS party, a component in the coalition seeking to topple the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Mr Syed Aziz’s website had recently advocated that people fly the Malaysian flag upside down as a protest against the current political upheaval.

Mr Abdullah reportedly called the protest “a malicious act” and police were told to investigate the campaign.

“We were informed that the police were looking for us on Tuesday and waited for them but they didn’t show up,” his Mr Sayed Aziz’s wife Bariah Ishak told the Star daily newspaper.

“We thought the worst was over but they came looking for him and so he surrendered,” she added.
[more]

Anwar demands special Malaysia Parliament session

8 hours ago

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s opposition leader has demanded a special Parliament session to hold a vote of no confidence in the government.

Anwar Ibrahim is telling reporters Thursday that the vote needs to be held no later than Tuesday to “deliberate” on a motion of censure and no confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. [more]

Parliament is currently in recess.

Anwar’s letter didn’t mention transfer of power’

‘By V.P. SUJATA, The Star

PUTRAJAYA: PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s letter to the Prime Minister only mentioned national security, the leadership and problems on morality and politics and had not touched on the transfer of power to the Opposition.

“He had stated that his letter had mentioned the transfer of power and asked that the emergency rule is not invoked but these are not mentioned in the letter that I had received,” said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He added that Anwar was confusing the public.

Abdullah reiterated that he would not meet Anwar because his letter had not stated the issues he wanted to discuss.

He added that Anwar’s lies about the country and its economic progress are a threat to national security and the country’s economy.

He said Anwar had spread wrong information of the country’s economic stability overseas to the extent that investors had reported that Malaysia was not a good country to invest in due to the political instability. [more]

Desperation: Loyalty Pledge Proposed To Tie Down Sabah MPs

The Star

By RUBEN SARIO

KOTA KINABALU: Many of the 24 Sabah Barisan Nasional MPs are rejecting a move to get them to sign a loyalty pledge to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

State Barisan Backbenchers Club chairman Datuk Anifah Aman said the move proposed by Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal was an insult to the Sabah MPs. He added that the pledge should instead be signed by all Barisan MPs nationwide.

He said various Sabah MPs including himself had repeatedly voiced their loyalty to the Barisan leadership and pledged that they had no intention of crossing over to join the opposition.

“We did this during the Permatang Pauh campaign, on television and again in Kota Kinabalu. Is the frequency of denial equivalent to our loyalty?” said Anifah, the Kimanis MP and Kimanis Umno chief.

He said many Sabah Barisan backbenchers had called him asking about the pledge and some had said they felt that they were being treated like “cattle.”

Anifah questioned Shafie’s real intentions for proposing the loyalty pledge and wondered whether it was aimed at scoring “political points” in his bid for the Umno vice-president’s post in the party polls.

Anwar Ibrahim returns as Malaysia opposition leader

Times Online,

Richard Lloyd-Parry

Ten years after being forced from power by charges of sexual misconduct, Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as the leader of the Malaysian opposition today and repeated his promise to drive out the government of the prime minister, Abdullah Badawi.

“I am glad to be back after a decade. I really feel vindicated. I feel great,” Mr Anwar said after being sworn in as a member of parliament and immediately elected as leader by the three party opposition coalition. “Clearly the prime minister has lost the mandate of the country and the nation.”

Mr Anwar won a convincing victory in a by-election on Tuesday in the state of Penang, just four months after the expiry of a ban on standing for public office. It was in 1998 that he was precipitated from the job of deputy prime minister after being accused of corruption and sodomy with his male driver, a grave crime in Malaysia.

He always insisted that the charge had been trumped up by the ruling United Malay National Organisation (Umno), because of the challenge which Mr Anwar, the deputy prime minister, was planning against his boss, the then prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad

Critics want Malaysia PM to resign over Anwar win

AP
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Dissidents in Malaysia’s ruling party demanded the prime minister’s resignation Wednesday after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim returned to Parliament with a sweeping election victory.

Anwar regained his Parliament seat in the north by a landslide in Tuesday’s by-election, delivering a demoralizing defeat for the government. Anwar’s success came on the heels of big gains the opposition made in the March general elections.

Veteran government lawmaker Razaleigh Hamzah, who wants to challenge Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the leadership of the United Malays National Organization ruling party, said the results meant that “what scraps of credibility (Abdullah) had left” were gone.

Abdullah, however, played down the significance of Anwar’s triumph.

“I believe we can still continue the government,” Abdullah was quoted as saying by the Bernama national news agency. “What happened … was not something so big as to change the situation that exists after the last general election.” [more]

Anwar Ibrahim threatens to pull down government by Sep 16

Thaindian.com

Kuala Lumpur, Aug 27 (IANS) Malaysia’s controversial opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has just won a parliamentary by-election, says he will bring down Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s government by mid-September. His opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would take over by Sep 16, The Star newspaper quoted the leader, who comes back to parliament after a decade, as saying.

Ibrahim has termed his election in a parliamentary by-election Tuesday as Malaysia’s “second political tsunami”, an allusion to the outcome of the March elections when the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) was for the first time denied a two-thirds majority.

The opposition leader, who has earlier issued threats that he would bring down the government, said his victory brought new meaning to the word “merdeka” (freedom).

Ibrahim, 63, promised that his opposition alliance that emerged strong with 82 members in parliament and control of five of the 13 states in the March polls would bring “new hope to the people with its reform agenda”. [more]