78. Letter to King

Pakatan Rakyat would not seek help from the Parliament speaker on its request to convene a special meeting to debate a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as the political impasse continues.

Contacted today, Pakatan secretariat member and PKR Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul said the opposition alliance would not seek Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia’s help to break the deadlock.

He said this is because the power to call for a special meeting when the Parliament is not session only lies with the premier under the parliamentary standing orders.

“Since we have given the prime minister until tomorrow to respond, let’s wait till tomorrow is over and we will decide on our next course of action,” he said when contacted today.

    

Pakatan however is holding its cards close to its chest as Johari, when asked on the next course of action, only replied: “It is in the pipeline.”

The PKR MP insisted that there should be a written reply from Abdullah as the special meet was clearly requested by Pakatan in the letter sent to the prime minister earlier.

No letter to king yet

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, on the other hand, has conspicuously skipped all his public functions in his constituency in Permatang Pauh, Penang over the weekend.

His wife, PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who replaced him at the functions, reportedly said that Anwar was occupied with meetings with BN MPs since more of them ‘were keen to cross over’. 

Abdullah rejected the special meeting last Thursday, saying that he did not see the need to do so since Parliament will resume on Oct 13 after the Ramadhan and Hari Raya break.

Pakatan has given the premier up to tomorrow to respond to its request failing which, it does not rule out the possibility of seeking an audience with the King on the matter - Malaysiakini.