Abdullah should be allowed to complete term as PM

Bukit Gelugor Member of Parliament Karpal Singh says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should be allowed to complete his term in office and not forced out prematurely.

"He was elected by the people because he has the majority in Parliament, and he should not be pressured out of office. He should be given the opportunity to complete his term, and that would be in the interests of the Malaysian people," said the fiesty DAP veteran.

Karpal dismissed the idea that Malaysians were pushing for Abdullah to step down.

"I think it is Umno which is clamoring for Abdullah to step down. I don't think the people in the country are clamoring for him to step down," said Karpal, adding that Abdullah's mandate rested with the people, and not with Umno.

"The people elected him on March 8 with the prospect of him completing his term. He was not elected by the people to step down halfway," he said, adding that if Abdullah should step down, he should do so willingly.

"If he should step down at all, he should do so of his own free will. It is not in our culture to pressure people into submission.

He was referring to the power transition plan which was supposed to see Abdullah handing the reins of power to Umno deputy president and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak by mid-2010.

That plan has since been revised, following internal party pressure, and the latest is that the party election has been postponed to March next year, with Abdullah saying he would decide before Oct 9 whether to stand for re-election as president.

Karpal said Abdullah "may be weak in certain areas, but as a human being, I think that he is somebody who ought to be respected and given the opportunity".

Karpal said if Najib takes over, he feared that things would go back to the way they were in the days of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

- The Sun