While Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi might not be in the North Pole, this has not deterred opposition leader Lim Kit Siang from making a Christmas wish.

He is hoping that the premier will pull out a downsized cabinet from his bag of goodies next year.

In a statement today, Lim said Abdullah's 'jumbo-sized' Cabinet formed after the March 2004 elections had failed to provide the premier the necessary support and solidarity to carry out effective reform programmes.

"It cannot miss notice, whether by the 25 million Malaysians or international observers that after more than two years as prime minister, Abdullah remains a lone voice in calling for a clean, incorruptible, accountable, transparent, trustworthy and efficient administration," he added.

Biggest challenge

At present, Lim said the Malaysian cabinet has 33 members and this is bigger than India, the world's largest democratic country.

The opposition leader believes that shrinking the cabinet would be one of Abdullah's biggest challenge for 2006.

"It will decide whether his stalled reform programme for a clean, incorruptible, trustworthy, accountable, just, efficient, competent, people-oriented administration prepared to listen to the truth from the people can be resuscitated to get a new lease of life," said the veteran politician.

Since taking over from Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2003, Abdullah has been criticised for failing to bring about any significant changes despite pledging to crackdown on corruption.

Although there was a wave of arrests, detractors however claimed that no big fish has been netted.