Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has already disappointed Malaysians who had given him the greatest ever mandate secured by a prime minister, said Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.

The veteran politician was commenting on the premier’s remark yesterday asking the people to support him and pledging not to let them down.

Abdullah said the support of the people gave him a greater sense of responsibility to strive even harder to ensure prosperity, harmony and development without leaving out any group.

“Abdullah just don’t get it,” said Lim in a statement today. “He has already disappointed Malaysians...”

“Is Abdullah’s denial so serious and even terminal that he is simply not aware of the widespread and deep-seated popular disenchantment over his failure to honour his catalogue of pledges when he became prime minister?” he asked.

Lim recalled how the prime minister vowed to represent all Malaysians, hear the truth from the people no matter how unpleasant, to wipe out corruption and abuse of power, to open up spaces for greater democracy and press freedom and to lead an administration of excellence and meritocracy towards a First-World Malaysia.

‘Denial complex’

“I cannot but ask whether the recent spate of unprecedented events had failed to make any impression on him whatsoever to shake off his denial complex?”

Lim referred to the nationwide pickets by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress and workers for fair wages, the march by some 2,000 lawyers for judicial independence and integrity, the 40,000- strong demonstartion by polls reform group for clean and fair elections and the demonstration organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

“Has the prime minister been completely isolated by his Putrajaya fourth storey gatekeepers from the people on the ground to the extent that he has totally lost touch with the hopes, fears, dreams and nightmares of ordinary Malaysians?” he asked.

If this is the case, the opposition leader said the country not only faces a crisis of confidence in the judiciary, Election Commission and with various national institutions, but also in the political leadership of Abdullah.

Lim said the premier’s request for another blank cheque from the people, promising not to disappoint them, was an “eerie request.”

“Is Abdullah’s latest request for real?” he asked.