Malaysia PM rejects Anwar parliamentary

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-19 14:20

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday rejected opposition demands to recall parliament for a confidence vote, prolonging his grip on power but also a deeply uncertain political environment.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim gestures during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur September 18, 2008. Anwar stepped up pressure on the government on Thursday, demanding an emergency parliamentary session next week to hold a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. [Agencies]

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had called for parliament to be convened by next Tuesday in the hope of ousting Abdullah which would then allow him to form a new government.

Abdullah, who is fighting for his political life after the government that has ruled the country for over 50 years suffered its worst ever election result in March, rebuffed the call to bring parliament back before the end of a recess in mid-October.

Anwar insisted at a press conference earlier that he had won over sufficient MPs from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition so as to form a new government, but declined to provide names or numbers, saying that would place them at risk.

The date Anwar set to recall parliament is one day before he is due in court on a charge that he sodomised a male aide. He denies the charge and says it is motivated by the government's desire to keep him out of power.

"We must realise this is now a minority government. The majority of MPs are with us now," Anwar told a news conference.

A leading constitutional lawyer said however that Anwar had no mechanism to force the return of parliament.

"That is the power of the king, on the advice of the prime minister," Shad Saleem Faruqi told Reuters.

Anwar has said he will seek an audience with the king and Faruqi said the king "could exercise moral influence in persuading the prime minister to face the assembly".

Abdullah however has refused point blank to meet Anwar and denied that the 30 MPs the opposition needs to form the next government have deserted the ruling coalition, calling Anwar's claims a "mirage".

Anwar's three-party alliance has 82 MPs in the 222-strong Malaysian parliament and if it wins power, it will displace the coalition that has run this Southeast Asian country of 27 million people since independence from Britain.

"A delay in his (Abdullah's) response would be interpreted as nothing short of a further sabotage of democratic process and abuse of executive powers," Anwar said.

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