Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been urged to create conditions for people to tell him the truth about going-ons in the country.

"Abdullah must be commended when he was quick to broaden his call to the people, and not just Barisan Nasional leaders, to tell him the truth.

" But one thing he has yet to do is to create the conditions for the people to tell him the truth," DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said in a statement today.

He suggested that the prime minister announce a two-year suspension of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and Official Secrets Act (OSA) to create a new air of freedom in the Malaysian press where the people and the opposition could tell him the truth

"When the opposition parties and NGOs are finding it more and more difficult to get their voices heard in the mainstream media, whether printed or electronic, how could the ordinary people tell the prime minister and the government unpleasant "truths" as distinct from servile praises?," Lim asked.

Las week, Abdullah said that BN leaders should not be afraid of telling him the truth just because they worry he could not sleep or may cry for it.

The prime minister said he should not be told "nice stories" when in fact the people were facing various problems and were depending on the government to resolve them.

Too premature

Acknowledging that Abdullah has passed with flying colours in his first two weeks as the new prime minister in his pledges, Lim however added that "it is still too premature to give marks on his actions and the delivery of his promises."

"The beginning of Abdullah's premiership is not very different from the ABC slogan at the launch of the 2M (Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Musa Hitam) administration in 1981 pledging to be "clean, efficient and trustworthy"," he noted.

The DAP chief said that while Malaysians want Abdullah to succeed in delivering his promises of a clean, incorruptible, efficient, accountable, transparent and democratic administration, they do not want to have another repeat of Malaysian history a new prime minister starting with high and great promises which could not be honoured, but what is worse, bringing the country backwards in many of these important areas of national life at the end of his tenure.

Lim added that Abdullah struck a deep chord and found great resonance among the people when he called on Barisan Nasional leaders to "tell the truth" and said he does not want "apple polishers", for the simple reason that this was the national malaise for too long with the people and country suffering the iniquities of these ills.