Thursday, April 17, 2008

Malaysian FM dismisses opposition threats to power

Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim on Thursday dismissed claims by the opposition that they have enough defectors from the ruling coalition to seize power.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has said he has enough support from defectors to topple the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition which lost its two-thirds majority in parliament in an election last month.

"There are theses being written in their minds but we have not registered any factual scenario as such, so it is left to be seen," Rais told reporters after meeting his Singaporean counterpart, George Yeo.

"I think the government is not sitting idle either so we have to do our homework and our hard work and we will face them."

Barisan Nasional lost its parliamentary majority and control of four states in last month's elections, the worst performance of its half-century rule over Malaysia.
Five states are now in opposition hands.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been under growing pressure to quit after the unprecedented poll losses.

Rais was named to Abdullah's new cabinet after the election. Rais, who replaced the long-time foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar, was on his first working visit to Singapore.


Agence France-Presse - 4/17/2008 10:47 AM GMT

No comments: