The call for “Undurlah Pak Lah” started much earlier. This photo was taken at one of the “No to fuels hike” rallies organized by PROTES early this year.

The placard I was holding was drawn up by one of the young demonstrators walking side by side with me.

When I asked him who should take over from Pak Lah (he insists that Abdullah is weak and more importantly, he does not seem to care about inflation and the heavy burden suffered by ordinary rakyat), he said Najib is no better.

When pressed further, he wanted the entire Cabinet to resign! The young man in his twenties wanted a bigger thing, i.e. “Tukar Kerajaan!” (Change the whole government).

From blog.limkitsiang.com, Lim Kit Siang for Malaysia (Monday, 4 Sept 2006)

“Who would have imagined that when Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should be at the height of his power and influence, having just won the biggest general election landslide victory ever achieved by any Prime Minister in March 2004, announced the RM220 billion Ninth Malaysia Plan and presented the biggest ever budget in the nation’s history on Friday totaling RM159.4 billion, there is a strong voice calling for his resignation.

Such a call has not come from his political enemies – whether inside UMNO like Tun Mahathir or outside. This is from outside UMNO and it was made only yesterday, by a Malaysian surgeon in California, M. Bakri Musa, a prolific writer on Malaysian affairs on the Internet, printed media and books.

Yesterday, he emailed me his four-page call “Undur lah, Pak Lah”. I do not agree with the harsh, unkind and cutting language Bakri used against Abdullah in several places.
Bakri urged Abdullah to step down now, which he described as “the one right decision at the right time and for all the right reasons, something that has sorely eluded him since becoming Prime Minister”.

He felt that this would be an appropriate time for Abdullah to announce his resignation to be effective following the election of a new leader at UMNO’s forthcoming annual assembly in November.

I do not intend to comment on Bakri’s call to Abdullah to step down as Prime Minister, but it must be recognized that Bakri’s underlying theme that Abdullah is not providing leadership will find considerable resonance among the people.

In fact, more and more Malaysians are asking who is the Prime Minister in Malaysia and whether there is a Prime Minister in Malaysia – in the same way that more and more are asking whether we have a Finance Minister or an Internal Security Minister in the real sense of the term, in the latter case in view of the runaway crime situation with the farce of the Royal Police Commission’s key recommendation for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission meant to be established in May this year.

Abdullah must come to grips with the drift and malaise in his administration, assert leadership, shakeup and downsize the Cabinet, “walk the talk” and implement the election pledges for which he had won the unprecedented mandate of a 91 per cent parliamentary majority – if he is to leave behind a worthwhile legacy as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The above is what I said in Parliament in today’s debate on the 2007 Budget.

Several UMNO MPs interjected questioning the credentials, credibility, loyalty and patriotism of Bakri to call on Abdullah to step down as Prime Minister.

MP for Kota Bahru Zaid Ibrahim asked whether at this stage there is a better person in the Cabinet untainted by cronyism who could take over as Prime Minister.

I made it clear that I am no spokesman for Bakri, that I have not met him at all and do not know him, and I am not defending him. I leave to Bakri to respond to the attacks levelled against him by some MPs, such as the MP for Jerai and MP for Kinabatangan.

I stressed that it is a fallacy to trot out the general election mandate to shut up debate or dissent as in the ICT era, the views expressed on the Internet whether blogs or websites should be given serious attention as they can be more genuine and reflective of actual feelings of the people than those in the mainstream media because of government “control”.

Furthermore, in a borderless world, when anyone anywhere can express opinions, what is important is not who but what is said, whether the contents can find resonance among the people.

I reiterated that I am not taking up Bakri’s “Undur Lah, Pak Lah” call and that I do not associate myself with the harsh and excessive language used by Bakri against Abdullah.

However, Abdullah and the political leadership should take cognizance of the intense dissatisfactions and disappointments with the Prime Minister’s performance coursing through Bakri’s call which resonate among the people.

I stressed that I had brought up this matter to draw Abdullah’s attention to such public dissatisfactions and disappointments so that he could belatedly deliver the reform pledges which he has yet to fulfill.”