Abdullah might step down before 2010 ??

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that he might resign before a previously set deadline of 2010 when he is to hand over power to his deputy.

Abdullah, who has promised to step down in June 2010, declined to give further details of a more definite time frame for his resignation.

'The timing is flexible. It is possible, if I may want to leave earlier but not beyond 2010,'

In a minor Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi named his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as finance minister.

Abdullah, who was the finance minister, will take over Najib's defence ministry portfolio.

He said the portfolio changes were aimed at gradually handing over greater responsibilities to Najib as part of a planned power transfer.

The embattled premier has been facing threats of a takeover by Anwar, who claimed he now had more than 31 defecting government lawmakers to make up a majority in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Sabah Progressive Party has pulled out from the BN, saying it has had enough of the BN policies and decisions.

The SAPP has turned independent but there can be denying that the SAPP is backing Pakatan Rakyat. With the SAPP pulling out from the BN, it has lost two MPs. It waits to be seen if any Sabah MPs would join the "third force" which SAPP chief Yong Teck Lee has been talking about. The SAPP action is surely a boost to the Pakatan Rakyat.