Published September 19, 2008

Abdullah may not seek re-election

Umno Supreme Council tells him he is not popular at the grassroots

By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR
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THERE is a possibility that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi may not seek re-election at the December polls of the United Malays National Organisation - of which he is president - following a meeting yesterday of Umno's Supreme Council, according to party insiders.

Mr Abdullah: May not contest post for Umno president in December

Even as recently as Wednesday, Mr Abdullah had maintained that he would seek re-election. But the insiders said the meeting had been 'lively and frank' and that while no firm decision had been taken on the handover of power - Mr Abdullah has said he will hand over the job to his deputy Najib Razak by June 2010 - the message delivered to Mr Abdullah was that he was not popular at the grassroots.

Mr Abdullah has been under pressure following the National Front's disastrous showing in the March 8 general elections. Since then he has had to continually fight bushfires that included ferocious and relentless attacks from former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Mr Abdullah's popularity in the party further waned following Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's spectacular victory in the Permatang Pauh by-election. Mr Anwar won an increased majority which indicated that the Malays were still staying away from the party that claimed to champion their cause.

A mishandled crisis in his home state of Penang further demonstrated that Mr Abdullah had lost the support of his home base while last week's arrests of three people under the Internal Security Act lent further credence to the thesis that Mr Abdullah's administration was losing credibility.

According to party insiders, the issues came to the fore during yesterday's meeting with some Supreme Councillors speaking bluntly to the premier. One leader, apparently, even told Mr Abdullah that he would not get the nominations necessary to run for party president. Under party rules, a challenger for the presidency needs 58 nominations to run for the post.

More tellingly, International Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who said in Singapore two weeks ago that Mr Abdullah should step down sooner rather than later, wasn't criticised, indicating that his statement was supported by a majority of Supreme Council members.

The meeting came to a conclusion when Mr Najib stepped in to quell the debate, saying he would discuss the matter further with Mr Abdullah.

This was reinforced by Mr Abdullah who told the press he would meet Mr Najib later. 'Whatever decision I make, I will discuss with Najib and the Supreme Council will be informed.' Mr Abdullah told reporters.

Meanwhile, Mr Abdullah also rejected a challenge put forward by Mr Anwar. The opposition leader threw down the gauntlet yesterday, asking the prime minister to convene an emergency parliamentary sitting to deliberate a no-confidence motion against his leadership 'by no later than Tuesday, Sept 23'.

Mr Anwar said that because Mr Abdullah clearly did not believe he had more than 31 possible defectors, 'then go to Parliament'. Mr Anwar has consistently maintained that he had the numbers to topple the government. But the premier declined to take the bait, saying that Parliament was due to meet after Hari Raya anyway.

Separately, Mr Abdullah said that neither 'Mr Anwar nor anybody else' would be arrested under the ISA. There had been speculation that the government was planning to crack down on the opposition following Mr Anwar's threats to topple the government.