Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must answer former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's claim that the present cabinet has "surrendered national sovereignty", said Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

The Ipoh Timur MP said that Abdullah should attend the winding-up of the Ninth Malaysia Plan debate next week to provide a "full explanation of the history, background facts and reasons" to answer Mahathir's allegations.

He said Mahathir's scathing criticism on Abdullah's administration over the cancellation of the crooked-bridge project required attention, as the government's explanation over the matter had thus far been riddled with contradictions.

For example, Lim said that the Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar had on Monday admitted that the Malaysia cannot act unilaterally on the construction of the bridge, contradicting his own previous statement.

Legal posers

In an immediate reaction to the cancellation, Syed Hamid said last week that "the law was on our side" and maintained that Malaysia would win its case should Singapore bring the matter to international courts.

Lim added that Mahathir had also rightly raised the issue of democratic responsibility and good governance by Abdullah's administration over the about- turn on the bridge project, three weeks after construction works began.

"Why the cabinet had unanimously decided to scrap the crooked half-bridge when a few years back, the almost-the-same cabinet unanimously agreed under Mahathir's premiership to build the project?" asked Lim in a statement today.

Turning his attention back to Syed Hamid, who yesterday was reported as saying that the cabinet had deliberated on the bridge issue "very carefully", Lim questioned if the deliberation took place during or after Mahathir's premiership.

Lim also wants to know if the Attorney-General's Chambers had been consistent in their advice over legal ramifications should Malaysia build the bridge unilaterally, and if Mahathir and the previous cabinet ignored the legal opinion of the AG's chambers.

Media censorship

On a separate issue, Lim disputed Mahathir's previous claims that the press was not told to censor news reporting during the latter's term as prime minister, adding that the claims were "totally untrue", unless such actions were done without his knowledge.

"Is Mahathir (now) prepared to agree that a full public investigation be conducted on how his government had controlled and censored the press in his years as prime minister?

"(This aside) Mahathir's strictures about the current lack of press freedom cannot just be brushed aside if Abdullah is sincere and serious about his reform pledge to 'hear the truth' from the people," said Lim, who is a consistent Mahathir critic, and supporter of Abdullah's cancellation of the project.

Abdullah cancelled the project citing legal and technical problems as well as the country's unwillingness to give in to Singapore's demand for sand and the use of airspace.