Pak Lah Berundur...(Malaysiakini)

Akhirnya keputusan telah dicapai. Satu keraguan yang membelenggu parti dan negara sudah terurai dengan digantikan satu lagi keraguan - adakah DS Najib personaliti paling sesuai untuk memimpin negara?

Sebelum membincangkan secara lebih lanjut, cukuplah sekadar penulis, bagi mewakili UMNO Damansara Utama, mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi kerana telah memimpin parti ini melalui dua Pilihan-raya umum dengan kejayaan.

Walaupun penulis adalah antara pengkritik cara pemerintahan Pak Lah, penulis tidak pernah mahu beremosi dalam menyampaikan wadah dan pendapat. Jadi penulis juga menyampaikan rasa hormat di atas keputusan Pak Lah.
Yang tinggal persoalan: Adakah keputusan ini akan berubah jika tiba-tiba Bahagian mula mencalonkan juga Pak Lah kerana gerakan orang-orang di bawahnya?
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PM not contesting, to quit in March
Oct 8, 08 4:39pm

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has decided not to defend his Umno president's post and will quit in March next year when the ruling party meets for its annual general assembly.
MCPX

Abdullah told leaders of the 13 Barisan Nasional component parties at a BN supreme council meeting in Putra World Trade Centre this afternoon that he would be stepping down as prime minister in five months time.

abdullah ahmad badawi pak lah angry umno“PM to step down in March, deputy PM to take over. He won’t stand for Umno election,” a component party leader told Malaysiakini via an SMS message. The meeting is still underway.

It is also learnt that the BN leaders are presently thanking Abdullah for his leadership.

As the prime minister was briefing BN leaders on the power transfer plan, scores of Abdullah’s supporters gathered outside the PWTC building to urge him to stay on.

Armed with banners, the supporters are calling on the embattled premier to continue until 2010 amid the now confirmed speculation that he might be forced to step down earlier.

Most short-lived as PM

Should Abdullah resign in March 2009, he would be the most short-lived as prime minister, serving a total of five years five months.

The country's third prime minister Hussein Onn, who resigned in 1981 to make way for Dr Mahathir Mohamad ostensibly due to health concerns, served for five years six months.

Abdullah, who took power on Oct 31, 2003 from Mahathir, won a landslide victory in the March 2004 general election only to suffer an unprecedented defeat four years later.

He was initially buoyed by a groundswell of support for his promises of reform after two decades of hardline rule under Mahathir - the country’s longest serving leader.

However, he was quickly seen as weak and ineffective after failing to come to grips with endemic corruption, high crime rates and inefficient bureaucracy, issues which he had vowed to address in his 2004 election manifesto.

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Masih ada yang sayangkan Pak Lah, walaupun wartawan lebih kurang sama ramai dengan penyokong...yang kanan sekali tersenyum kambing pula:)