TV PAKATAN RAKYAT

SHAH ALAM, Nov 30 – De facto PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday blamed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi for his failure to topple the government by Sept 16, saying that the takeover now must start with the party's victory in the Sarawak state election, scheduled to be held by 2011.

"We set a target, so together with Datuk Seri Hadi Awang and Lim Kit Siang we sent a letter to the Prime Minister requesting a meeting, but he refused," said Anwar to some 5,000 supporters at a ceramah last night as part of the PKR national congress.

"We then asked for an emergency session of Parliament, they refused," the Opposition Leader said of his attempt two months ago to table a motion of no confidence against the government. He reiterated that Pakatan Rakyat is ready to take over government.

"But to take over, to go through all the items to satisfy political observers, that is tough to answer," he said. He also said that his answer to those who kept asking "when" was "wait." Anwar Ibrahim reiterated that he could not reveal the Barisan Nasional MPs who had planned to defect to PR as that was part of the conditions set by the legislators he claimed would be defecting. Anwar then declared to the party supporters that Sarawak is the new battlefront. "We will have groups of MPs visiting Sarawak every week. If not, we will throw them out," he quipped.

He also claimed that there were Sarawakian BN MPs who had already pledged their full support."Sometimes, I get dizzy. Because they will sign their full support but the next day, he goes back to Kuching and attacks us. When I ask why? He says because they are suspicious of him," he explained.