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©The
Straits Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Hazlin Hassan, Malaysia Correspondent
No one can seize power without people's mandate, PM declares
in budget speech
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday hit
back against newly-appointed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's declared aim to
topple the government by Sept 16, saying he would not allow it to happen.
His fiery response to the threat came during the budget speech and was his first
since Mr Anwar entered Parliament on Thursday.
'Efforts by certain parties to destabilise the country by attempting to seize
power through illegitimate means, and without the mandate of the people, must be
rejected,' Datuk Seri Abdullah said.
Such 'uncertainties' would affect foreign investments, he added.
'I will not allow these disturbances to continue,' he said sternly to the sound
of boos from the opposition benches and loud thumping of the tables from ruling
coalition members.
'We need to get on with the business of governing and not waste any more time
with opportunistic threats to seize the people's mandate through undemocratic
means,' he said.
His comments came a day after Mr Anwar entered Parliament for the first time
since he was sacked and jailed 10 years ago by former premier Mahathir Mohamad
over sodomy and corruption charges.
Mr Anwar had won a by-election on Tuesday by a landslide, a move bringing him
closer to his target of becoming premier. The opposition has said that it will
take over the government by wooing 30 MPs from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN)
into their fold, a threat government leaders have brushed off.
Yesterday, Mr Anwar dismissed the Prime Minister's attack against him.
'It is the decision of the MPs (if they defect). He (Mr Abdullah) sounded like a
dictator...it is the will of the people and the representatives,' he said.
As for Mr Abdullah's reference to 'threats to seize the people's mandate through
undemocratic means,' he said, 'At least I'm not blatantly corrupt, inefficient
and in a state of denial.'
Parti Keadilan Information chief Tian Chua told The Straits Times that the Prime
Minister's speech sounded 'very defensive and insecure.'
'They seem to be confirming what Mr Anwar is doing (wooing BN MPs to defect). It
reaffirms his real worry that he will not last for very long.'
On Thursday, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Shafie Apdal, an MP from Sabah,
told reporters that all MPs from Sabah and Sarawak would sign a loyalty pledge
to show that they would not leave BN. But yesterday, several Sabah MPs from BN
rejected the idea of the pledge, saying it was an insult.
Sabah MP Anifah Aman said he would not sign it and slammed the suggestion as
'degrading and humiliating'. Three other MPs also criticised the idea and said
they would not sign the pledge. Such dissension adds fuel to speculation that
the defecting MPs would be from Sabah and Sarawak.
Datuk Anifah himself has been a key figure amid all the speculation. He turned
down the post of a deputy minister in the Abdullah Cabinet following the March
elections, resulting in more resources and attention being diverted to Sabah and
Sarawak.
Indeed in the budget speech yesterday, PM Abdullah unveiled many goodies for the
two states, perhaps in an attempt to sweeten any would-be defectors.
DON'T WASTE TIME
'We need to get on with the business of governing and not waste any more time
with opportunistic threats to seize the people's mandate through undemocratic
means.'
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's first response to Mr Anwar's declared goal
of taking over the government
DON'T KID YOURSELF
'He (Mr Abdullah) sounded like a dictator...it is the will of the people and the
representatives...At least I'm not blatantly corrupt, inefficient and in a state
of denial.'
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on PM Abdullah's reference to 'threats to
seize the people's mandate through undemocratic means'
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