Ahli UMNO berpaling tadah.. kata Anwar

Anwar merapek lagi di Singapura... betul atau satu lagi taktik Anwar yang hendak mengkucar kacirkan negara.

The Singapore Straits Time

March 17, 2008
Ruling UMNO party members want to defect: Anwar
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim claimed Monday that many lawmakers in the ruling coalition want to defect to his camp after their election debacle.
Mr Anwar told reporters he has been approached by many ruling party lawmakers who won in the March 8 general elections.

They are welcome to defect but no bribes will be paid to make them to cross over, he said.

'We will remain consistent and committed to the code of ethics.

If you want to surrender at a price you have chosen the wrong party,' he told reporters.

Buying political support, especially by paying voters money, is common in Malaysia, and bribing lawmakers to defect, while not widespread, is known to occur.

The three-party opposition alliance stitched together by Anwar won an unprecedented 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament in the elections. It needs 30 more lawmakers to get a majority needed to unseat the National Front coalition's government.

Mr Anwar's claim could not be immediately confirmed, but would add to persistent rumors of political horse-trading in the aftermath of the disastrous poll results for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's coalition.

Mr Abdullah says he has the full support of his party, and has rejected calls to step down. But Mr Anwar's claim, if true, would add pressure on him to keep the party together.

Mr Anwar did not say how many National Front members have approached him, but said they belonged to Mr Abdullah's United Malays National Organization, the main party in the National Front, as well as other smaller parties.

'People have approached and discussed ... but no one dared raise the issue of price (of defection) to me,' he said, without elaborating. He said he believes some will eventually defect, even without monetary inducement.

But he refused to say if the numbers would be enough to topple the National Front government, which is facing its worst political crisis in the 51 years it has been in power.

Although the National Front suffered losses in some previous elections, notably in 1999, it is the first time its parliamentary majority has been eroded to this extent. In addition, Mr Anwar's opposition alliance won control of governments in five of Malaysia's 13 states.

Mr Anwar said many of those who approached him won their seats from Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo island, which have emerged as UMNO's political stronghold after its spectacular loss of support in mainland Malaysia.

The National Front won 54 out of the 56 seats in the two states, accounting for nearly 39 per cent of its total 140 seats it Parliament. Most of the 54 seats were won by UMNO candidates.

Mr Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, was once an UMNO star before being accused of corruption and sodomy by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998. He was convicted of both charges but the sodomy charge was later overturned.

While he was in jail, Mr Anwar's wife formed the People's Justice Party, or PKR, which emerged as the largest opposition party in the elections with 31 parliamentary seats. It is in a coalition with the Democratic Action Party and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party. -- AP