 |
"I am not going to run away," said embattled Abdullah. |
KUALA LUMPUR — New party's leadership elections, resignations and a lost faceoff with the king are but a few of the problems Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has been facing since his coalition's poor performance in the general elections.
"We will have elections to select the party leadership," Abdullah said after a meeting of his ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) top decision-making body, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The date that has been set is from the 16th to 20th December," he said, vowing to fight for his post as party leader.
"I am not going to run away."
UMNO maverick Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and a member of Malaysia's royalty, is one possible challenger.
He has called on the party's entire leadership to step down after the March 8 general elections, saying the party has been "shamed on a scale without precedent in our history."
The ruling National Front coalition, of which UMNO is the dominant party, lost its two-third majority in the parliament for the first time in its near-unbroken 50-year reign since independence.
The opposition alliance, including the Islamists PAS party, also gained control of an unprecedented five of the country's thirteen states, including the NF industrial heartlands.
Several voices, including former premier Mahathir Mohamad, have been calling on Prime Minister Abdullah to step down.
Challenges
The party leadership election is the latest in a series of challenges facing Abdullah and his government.
Ghapur Salleh, who was deputy environment minister, became the third junior minister to quit the new government.
"I don't want to be tied down with the duties of a deputy minister," said the 64-year-old Ghapur only eight days after accepting the post.
He became the second member of parliament from the Sabah party, an NF coalition partner, and the third deputy minister to quit since the election.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said last week that ruling-party lawmakers were willing to defect to the opposition, threatening to drag down the government.
Prime Minister Abdullah also gave in Thursday after weeks of wrangling with Sultan of Terengganu Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin on who should be the new chief minister of the oil-rich state.
The sultan, also the current rotating king of Malaysia, has appointed Ahmad Said to replace incumbent chief minister Jusoh Idris in defiance of Abdullah.
"The government has agreed with the palace choice for the post of chief minister for Terengganu," the embattled prime minister said Thursday.
The showdown was the biggest challenge since the nine hereditary rulers, who take turns as kings for a five-year term each, had their wings of power clipped.
The sultans, who were once a powerful counterweight to the elected government, now hold largely ceremonial duties.
Amendments to the constitution in 1983, abolished the king's veto power over parliamentary laws.
Another amendment in 1993 took away the immunity from prosecution the sultans once enjoyed.
|
