Malaysian PM hints could step down earlier than planned

Agence France-Presse - 9/26/2008 7:32 AM GMT

Malaysian premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Friday he may not seek re-election as ruling party leader in March polls, indicating he could quit well before a planned transition in 2010.

Abdullah spoke after an emergency meeting of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) over the plan to transfer power to his deputy Najib Razak in two years, which has caused a rift within the party.

The embattled prime minister said UMNO leadership elections scheduled for December would be postponed until March and that he would make an announcement in the next few weeks on whether he would bid for the top job.

"I have not made any decision as far as this particular point is concerned," he said. "The decision is mine, you can go on guessing. As far as I'm concerned I love the party."

Traditionally the president of UMNO -- which leads a multi-racial coalition and has dominated Malaysian politics for half a century -- becomes the prime minister.

But Abdullah admitted that several members of UMNO's Supreme Council were pushing him to quit and said the party leadership polls had been postponed "to help facilitate an early transition".

The premier -- whose popularity has plummeted over broken promises for reform and accusations of economic mismanagement -- has been in the firing line since March elections that handed the opposition unprecedented gains.

He is also fending off a bid to topple the government by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who says he has the support of enough defecting lawmakers to form a new administration.

Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, one of the cabinet members pushing for a revamped leadership, indicated that the 2010 handover plan was now abandoned.

"As far as I'm concerned it's a new deadline that has been set. I sense he is showing some magnanimity," he told reporters.

Muhyiddin backed the decision to fix a new date for the UMNO polls, a move seen by observers as a face-saving way for Abdullah to avoid an embarrassing leadership challenge.

"In a way it is to bring forward the deadline," he said, calling for an end to the rift in the ruling party over the timetable for Abdullah's departure.

"It is time for us to close ranks," he said.

Rafidah Aziz, head of the UMNO women's wing, also suggested the premier would step down earlier than planned.

"We agreed with what was said, it was a comprehensive decision. It is to facilitate an earlier transition, so take it as that," she said.

Although Najib is clearly Abdullah's heir apparent, the revised plan allows the new leadership to be formally elected by the party next March. The 2010 handover deal had been criticised as undemocratic by some UMNO leaders.

"This is good for the party," Najib said.

"This follows UMNO's tradition and at the same time we have taken into account the views of party members, so I think there is a lot of wisdom in today's decision."

The Barisan Nasional coalition has floundered since the March general elections that saw the opposition gain control of five states and a third of parliamentary seats.

Muhyidding has said UMNO and the coalition face oblivion at the next general elections due in five years if they fail to undertake reforms.

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