Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not get the unanimous support from Umno to take disciplinary action against Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a PAS leader has claimed.

PAS veep Husam Musa said that all Abdullah managed to obtain from the Umno meeting yesterday was a pledge of support for his leadership as Umno president and prime minister.

"He failed to receive the full support of the party to take disciplinary action against Mahathir," Husam claimed in a statement last night.

The PAS leader was also the first to raise the possibility that Mahathir will be shown the exit from Umno for making scathing criticisms against the current administration last Wednesday.

However, the Umno supreme council meeting yesterday did not discuss any punitive measures to be taken against Mahathir.

Husam claimed that Umno had changed its initial plan to sack Mahathir over the past few days after he 'revealed' the ruling party's plan.

He insisted that his 'pre-emptive' statement has been successful in preventing Mahathir from being sacked from the party.

Answer on bridge, Proton

Meanwhile, he said Umno's decision not to take action against Mahathir should be translated into providing satisfactory replies to the questions raised by the former premier.

This included the half-bridge project to Singapore - on whether Malaysia has indeed offered sand and airspace to get Singapore to agree to the project and the actual cost after cancellation.

He said it appears that the the cabinet did not study carefully the financial implication of scrapping the half-bridge project, judging from the way Abdullah answered queries on the issue last week.

At a press conference last Friday, Abdullah was caught by surprise when he was told of the possibility that the government may have to pay RM1.12 billion after scrapping the bridge project.

This included RM740 million as compensation to the contractor and fund to build a eight-lane flyover, as well as another RM380 million land premium demanded by the Johor Government.

The original cost of constructing the bridge is only RM1.113 billion.

"The costs (that government has to pay) is a big loss which reflects the cabinet's failure to handle this issues carefully and prudently," Husam said.

The PAS politician also asked the government to reply to Mahathir's questions in relation to Proton, including the sell of MV Agusta for one euro.

Husam said he "appreciated" the role of Mahathir for bringing up the issues publicly and the government should answer them they are of public interest.