Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should exercise leadership to end his cabinet ministers' obsession in wanting to take action against malaysiakini for its April Fool's prank, said Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

The PM should instead focus the cabinet's attention on the country's spiralling disappointment in his failure to deliver his key premiership pledge to establish a 'zero-tolerance for corruption', he said in a statement today.

Lim accused some ministers of wanting to seek revenge on the online news portal for causing panic within government circles on April 1.

Yesterday, Minister for Energy, Water and Communications Dr Lim Keng Yaik disclosed that the Attorney-General's Chambers and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission are investigating the prank.

"The confirmation by the minster could only mean one thing - that many cabinet ministers want their 'pound of flesh' for the fright and panic they suffered during those few minutes when they believed they might be arrested and prosecuted on corruption charges," added Lim.

Malaysiakini ran an article on this year's April Fool's morning, which claimed three ministers and a state chief minister were to be charged with corruption. The report is linked to another article which revealed it was an April Fool's joke.

Hit home too deep

Lim suggested that the reason ministers were not amused by the prank - which is common practice worldwide to take such jokes in the spirit of the day - was because they were conscious that corruption may in fact exist among them.

"If the cabinet is comprised of ministers that are squeaky clean, the prank would not only have no credibility but the ministers could have a hearty laugh at the online media's poor choice of a damp squib as a subject," said Lim.

"But ministers could not afford to laugh at malaysiakini 's prank because it hit home too deep and hard, sparking fear and even panic that it might be true."

Lim said the fear was well-founded given Malaysia's current low-rank of 39th in Transparency International's annual corruption perception index. In 1995, the county was ranked 23rd.

The opposition leader also encouraged the premier to reshuffle the cabinet - a move he said is long overdue - and to drop ministers who "clamour the loudest, particularly in the secrecy of cabinet meetings, for action to be taken against malaysiakini ."

The malaysiakini prank had caused a flap among those in government with Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail reportedly furious over the joke. He wanted action to be taken against the online daily.

Malaysiakini has defended its move stating that it was meant to stir a debate on the issue of corruption.

On Tuesday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz told Parliament that the government would be taking action against malaysiakini for its April Fool's prank because it " tells lies ".