“It is sad and pathetic to see Abdullah Ahmad Badawi end his five-year premiership in a mirage - cocooned in total denial,” said DAP leader Lim Kit Siang in the wake of the prime minister’s announcement that he will quit next March.

anwar ibrahim sodomy allegation saiful bukhari azlan first day in court 070808 lim kit siang 01 Lim, who is responding to Abdullah’s repeated vows that he would see through the reforms he had promised earlier, dismissed this as “doing the impossible”.

“If Abdullah cannot deliver his many reform pledges when he was at the height of his power as a result of the greatest electoral victory and mandate ever won by any prime minister in half-a-century in March 2004, what could he achieve when he is being forced out of office after suffering the most ignominious electoral defeat in Umno and Barisan Nasional history?

“It is a million times more difficult for Abdullah to deliver his reform pledges once he has announced his exit-plan than when he won the landslide electoral mandate in the 2004 general election.”

An ‘honourable exit’ for Pak Lah?

Yesterday, Abdullah said that he would pursue judicial reforms and give more bite to the Anti-Corruption Agency to fight graft before he leaves office.

abdullah ahmad badawi pm pc 160908 02 He said he would be tabling two new bills in Parliament before the end of his term - the Judicial Appointments Commission and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

The outgoing premier also vowed to push through the controversial Special Complaints Commission, which has been stalled in Parliament.

According to Lim, if the premier can use his last five months to honour all the unfulfilled promises of the past five years, it will be an “honourable exit” for Abdullah.

“(But) can Abdullah embark on such an ‘impossible mission’ in his last five months as prime minister, when there will be a de facto prime minister who will immediately and increasingly be more powerful than the de jure prime minister?”

Don’t re-table SCC bill, PM told

Lim also questioned Abdullah’s vow to table the Special Complaints Commission bill, which was withdrawn last December after facing severe criticism.

The bill was slammed for being a ‘watered-down’ version of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), which was the key recommendation from the Police Royal Commission set up by Abdullah.

police traffic anti corruption saya anti rasuah badge 300307 The SCC, unlike the IPCMC, has not been given the powers to effectively fight against corruption in the police force.

“Instead of an IPCMC ‘lion’ with teeth and claws, a toothless and clawless SCC mouse has been produced, wasting five years of the Abdullah premiership and making a total mockery of Abdullah's pledge to reform the police...”.

The veteran opposition leader warned Abdullah against re-tabling of the SCC bill.

“If all that Abdullah can table when Parliament reconvenes next week is the same toothless and clawless SCC bill, then let it be said clearly and definitively that it is completely unacceptable and a travesty of his reform commitment...”.