Two important meetings to determine the fate of the nation are slated to take place this morning, almost simultaneously but at venues just a few kilometres apart.

In the first meeting, Prime Minister and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be seeing Umno divisional leaders at the Putra World Trade Centre, where he is expected to stress that he would continue to lead the party and nation despite calls for his resignation.

He will also explain issues concerning the party and the ruling Barisan Nasional's worst ever electoral setback at last month's general elections.

After the closed-door briefing, Abdullah is expected to hold a dialogue session on the latest developments affecting Umno and the reasons for the election losses.

Bitter critic attends Umno meet

At about the same time, Abdullah’s predecessor and bitter critic Dr Mahathir Mohamad would be attending a forum held by a branch in the Pandan Umno division at a hotel in Jalan Ampang, less then seven kilometres away from the PWTC.

At the forum, Mahathir is expected to continue with his call for Abdullah to take responsibility for Umno’s performance in in the March 8 national polls and step down.

In the aftermath of the general elections, Mahathir has once again raised the question of Abdullah’s capability of running the country and Umno.

He has also openly professed that there should be a contest for the top party post in the December Umno polls and has openly supported a challenge to Abdullah's leadership.