R. Sivarasa, expects little impact from reforms. — picture by Choo Choy May
KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Some Malaysian government lawmakers who were planning to defect to the Opposition might change their minds now that the prime minister has announced policy changes to win their allegiance, Opposition leaders said today.
Officials in the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) nevertheless voiced confidence that enough members of Parliament will still switch sides by September to topple Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government.
"My gut feeling is (Abdullah's reforms) are not going to change things very much," said the party's vice-president, Sivarasa Rasiah.
Worries about potential defections were believed to be a main reason that Abdullah promised on Saturday to increase funding and improve administrative policies for Sabah, a poor eastern state where complaints about government neglect have simmered for years.
Abdullah's Barisan Nasional (BN) has been jittery about losing power after it clinched only 140 seats in the 222-member Parliament in March elections – the first time in 40 years that it failed to secure a two-third majority.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of PKR has repeatedly claimed that he can get at least 30 lawmakers, mainly from Malaysia's Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo island to defect. That would be enough to topple Abdullah's government.
Sabah contributes 25 lawmakers while Sarawak has 31 in BN.
Syed Husin Ali, deputy president of the PKR, insisted that the "core people who are fully committed" about defecting will not change their minds because they realise Abdullah's reforms were not enough to tackle their grievances.
"There will be a few people who will be influenced by this. There will be some marginal effect," he said, adding that the crossovers would be announced in September "by the latest."
Abdullah and other top officials in Umno, the biggest party in BN, were scheduled to hold a two-day retreat later this week to discuss measures to safeguard their hold on power. — AP
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