Najib: BN serious about 'crossover threat'
Malaysiakini.com
Apr 25, 2008

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government is taking the ‘crossover threat’ of MPs seriously, said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today.

najib tun razak 030105"There are reports (of the crossover) but we cannot just dismiss the reports. Of course, there is an element of political gamesmanship, nonetheless, we cannot take things for granted," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Najib said this when asked to comment on a statement by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim that the opposition had 30 or more MPs who were willing to leave BN for Pakatan Rakyat.

Following the just concluded general election, the opposition won 82 seats in Parliament while BN has 140 seats.

If 30 or more BN MPs were to cross over to the opposition, the country would witness BN losing the federal government for the first time since the independence 50 years ago.

Asked if BN would take measures to ensure all BN MPs remained with the ruling coalition, Najib said: "We will do something but I won't tell you exactly what we will do, but we will do something."

"We hear rumours (of the crossover) but no one has come and said we are saying goodbye to BN," said the deputy prime minister.

"We have to deal with urgency. We have to take everything seriously, we cannot dismiss it as pure fabrication but as I said there is a strong element of political gamesmanship as well," he said.

'PM in three years'

anwar ibrahim 02 060207On April 23, Anwar predicted that he would become prime minister in three years.

"I don't think we have established a definite clear time-frame when I will take over (as prime minister) but it certainly wouldn't reach three years ... much earlier than that," he was quoted as saying by the foreign news agency.

"(But) I am not in a rush," he added.

Anwar, heir-apparent to long-time former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad before being sacked and jailed a decade ago, has emerged as a serious threat to the ruling coalition after the opposition's strong showing in parliamentary polls.

He became free to run for office again last week, when a five-year ban stemming from his corruption conviction expired, and claims he has the support of enough defectors to topple the government. 

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