Resurgent Anwar piles pressure on Malaysia PM - AFP

Malaysia's struggling leader faced a new and serious challenge Tuesday after opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim's dramatic claim that he is supported by enough government defectors to seize power.

Analysts said turmoil in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's ruling coalition could hasten an exodus of lawmakers and propel Anwar to power after last month's stunning general election gains by the opposition alliance.

Anwar, the former deputy prime minister who was sacked and jailed a decade ago, said at a rally late Monday that he had enough support to form a government but would not act until he had a more comfortable majority.

"Yes, we have enough MPs to topple the government," he told reporters after police broke up the rally, which drew more than 10,000 supporters to celebrate the end of his ban from politics.

"We are saying here for the first time that we are ready (to rule)," he said. "But we will only enter when the majority is comfortable."

"When we take over we want to initiate the move. Do we want to be a government with a two- or five-seat majority?"

Police Tuesday summoned Anwar's wife and Keadilan party president Wan Azizah Ismail, Selangor state chief minister Khalid Ibrahim and several others to investigate a complaint about the rally.

"We consider the police action against the Keadilan leaders as an act of intimidation and provocation," party deputy president Syed Husin Ali told AFP.

[More at http://news.my.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1344110]