Former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was exploited for a book about his administration, claims Umno Youth exco member Lokman Adam.

NONE Lokman ( right ) was referring to Abdullah's interview that was critical of predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a recent book entitled ' Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years in Malaysia '.

"I am confident that Pak Lah was exploited by the publishers.

"He will respond soon but the party (Umno) machinery must be quick in responding," he said in a Twitter posting today.

In the interview, Abdullah, who is more fondly known as Pak Lah, had said that Mahathir meddled in his administration.

He also claimed that there was strong inertia within Umno against his planned reforms that failed to meet the rakyat's expectations.

The book, edited by political scientists Bridget Welsh and James Chin, is a compilation of articles by politicians and academics about Abdullah's tenure as well as an interview with the former premier.

Lokman also weighed in on news that PKR's Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah will be launching the book, saying that it was not a problem as the book was not personally written by Abdullah.

"Indeed Pak Lah is the subject of the authors but it is not a book published by Pak Lah," he said.

The book was published by the Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.