Malaysia's Anwar sets new Dec deadline to seize power
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 (Reuters)
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has said that the country's
beleaguered Barisan Nasional government could fall by December, a
newspaper reported on Saturday.
Anwar has insisted he had won over enough defectors from the
government to form a new administration. But an earlier self-imposed
deadline of Sept. 16 passed and his calls to recall parliament for a
confidence vote were denied.
The former deputy premier's move to set a new deadline by the Eid al-Adha
festival, which falls on Dec. 8, comes after Prime Minister Ahmad
Abdullah Badawi announced this week he will not stand in a party
election next year, effectively handing over to his deputy Najib Razak.
"We have built our base to go forward, if it (taking power) does not
happen this week or next week, it can possibly happen before Eid al-Adha
festival," Anwar said late on Friday in comments reported by the
mass-selling Berita Harian newspaper "On the way it will be done, I
can't say. We will choose the peaceful way," Anwar, who was touring the
northeastern state of Kelantan, said. Eid al-Adha is Islam's most
important feast at the end of the annual Haj pilgrimage.
In mainly-Muslim Malaysia, the holiday coincides with the last few
days parliament will be in session for the year.
Anwar has to get 30 government MPs to walk over in order to have a
majority in the 222-seat parliament. At present the opposition
coalition, made of Anwar's Keadilan party, the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia
and the Democratic Action party, has 82 seats."A momentum for a
no-confidence vote could build up when parliament starts next week and
this may happen during the debating of the budget or any bill for that
matter," said Ginie Lim, spokeperson for Keadilan party.
One of Malaysia's best-known political figures, Anwar made world
headlines when he was dismissed in the late 1990s by then premier
Mahathir Mohamad and later imprisoned on what he says were trumped up
sodomy and corruption charges.
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