MPs refuse to be dictated by Dr M's personal agenda - NST

KUALA LUMPUR: After failing to get even a single Umno MP, including his own son, to walk out of the party with him, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad unabashedly appealed to MPs from Barisan Nasional component parties to do so -- with the same result: zero.

The MPs were wise to the fact that if they did so, they would destabilise the government and help the opposition achieve its cherished goal of forming the government.

But as Dr Mahathir walks alone, lurking in his shadow for an opportunity to pounce is his former deputy-turned-nemesis Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"I do intend to topple the government; we have the numbers," Anwar told reporters in Singapore. "I'm looking forward to early elections," he said, adding that he hoped these would take place before September.

"The moment we are sure we can contest, we move. If you have a one to two majority, the government will be too fragile ... You don't need a two-thirds majority."

He wanted a majority of five or six and saw a vote of no-confidence in Parliament as the best course of action.

Barisan MPs were obviously wiser. They said as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had led the coalition to victory, he should only be disposed of through a ballot -- not by asking BN MPs to become independents.

Opposition stalwarts also dismissed Dr Mahathir's call as wishful, gleefully pointing out that even his son, Datuk Mukhriz, was not taking his call seriously.

[More at http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Frontpage/2246879/Article/index_html]