Najib Abdul Razak has denied reports that he would reshuffle the cabinet and call an early election, saying these are merely rumours and reports.

"It's normal," he said, "Malaysia is never short of rumours and reports."

NONE Najib, who is BN chairperson, was approached by reporters after opening the Global Business Leaders Forum 2010 in Kuala Lumpur today, following reports that he might reshuffle the cabinet and call the general election soon.

On the move by the BN to amend its constitution to make the coalition inclusive and open to all, he said: "It has nothing to do with election."

"This is our reform, a political reform of the BN. Election is something else," he said, adding that the political reform was in line with the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) launched this year to spur Malaysia to become a high-income nation by 2020.

On the current level of support towards the BN, Najib said the results of the recent by-elections - for the Galas state seat in Kelantan and Batu Sapi parliamentary seat in Sabah - showed that the support was on the rise.

However, Najib said, the BN must not take for granted that it had done everything.

Keep 'political momentum going'

He said the coalition had to keep the momentum going for the Government Transformation Plan and Economic Transformation Plan as well as getting the "political momentum going."

On the amendment to the BN constitution to allow associate and affiliate memberships, which raised questions among component members over their candidacy in elections, Najib said the BN would spell out their rights to contest.

NONE He added that basically, a BN candidate must be a member of a BN component party.

However, in an extreme situation where none of the BN component parties wanted to contest a seat, "then the candidacy will be opened for consideration by the BN supreme council," he said.

He said that any decision to give a seat to a BN associate or affiliate member would be made after consulting the component parties and in the BN's spirit of consensus.

"We will not take away seats from BN component parties and give them to the direct associate or affiliate members. That is not right," he said.

Najib was also asked on a news report today that many Malaysians who resorted to paying their medical bills in private hospitals using credit cards and bank loans had difficulties repaying the loan.

He advised the people to think carefully about where they should get their treatment.

Najib said the country's hospital system was among the best in the world but admitted that it faced constraints due to the sheer number of patients.

Najib: Don't be like 'a mouse fixing a pumpkin'

- Bernama