Najib defends takeover

(AP) KUALA LUMPUR – MALAYSIA'S next prime minister accused his opposition foes of being sore losers after they not only failed to topple the ruling coalition but lost control of a key state when several lawmakers switched allegiances, news reports said on Sunday.

The National Front coalition stunned Malaysians last week by wresting back the legislature in Perak, one of five states that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's alliance won in general elections last March.

Mr Anwar had sought to seize power following last year's elections by luring government lawmakers to the opposition, but his efforts floundered despite boosts from winning two consecutive by-elections for vacant parliamentary seats over the last six months.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who orchestrated the National Front's takeover of Perak, denied opposition criticism that the move was unlawful, saying late on Saturday that his rivals were merely reaping what they had sown.

'Please ask (the opposition) why they started this,' the national news agency Bernama quoted Mr Najib as saying. 'They wanted to topple the federal government by stealing (our) members of Parliament.' The takeover occurred after Najib announced on Wednesday that three state lawmakers had deserted the opposition and became 'friendly independents' to the National Front.

The opposition has pledged to challenge the takeover in court after its attempt to seek fresh state elections was rejected by the state's royal ruler.

Mr Najib, who is set to become prime minister by early April, was quoted as saying Saturday that the new National Front administration in Perak will not easily collapse. Mr Najib's aides could not immediately be contacted on Sunday.

The takeover has earned Mr Najib wide admiration in the ruling coalition, which is banking on him to revive the government's ebbing popularity. However, critics say the coalition may have won a pyrrhic victory in Perak because many Malaysians were turned off by the political subterfuge.

Mr Najib 'has piled up for himself another infamy – the trampling of the constitutional process and democratic rights of the people of Perak,' senior opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said in a statement Sunday. — AP