Malaysian Insider - By Adib Zalkapli
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 – Datuk Seri Najib Razak today thanked his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for not interfering in his administration.
In his winding up speech on the last day of the Umno general assembly, the Prime Minister praised Abdullah for standing by him in all the decisions he had made.
“He had promised me two things, firstly he said he would not criticise me, but I want to make it clear today. Not only has Pak Lah not been criticising me, he has also shown his support for my decisions,” said Najib, who took over the government from Abdullah in April.
During his premiership from 2004 till last April, Abdullah had to endure constant criticism from his predecessor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The campaign against Abdullah's administration from within the party had partly contributed to the Barisan Nasional's (BN) decline in Election 2008.
“Pak Lah even said that if I can do better than him, his support will continue,” Najib told his party faithful today.
Abdullah, who was absent during the opening of the assembly yesterday, was in the audience today.
He joined the delegates as the Kepala Batas Umno division chief and did not take the VIP seat reserved for him.
As a division chief, Abdullah is automatically a general assembly delegate but he was also invited to attend as a guest of honour by virtue of being former party president.
“We are very lucky because at the opening of the assembly a former president was present, and today another former president is with us to witness the closing of our assembly,” said Najib, referring to Dr Mahathir's attendance during the opening of the assembly.
Abdullah’s presence was highly anticipated yesterday as it would have been a rare joint public appearance with Dr Mahathir.
He was absent yesterday because he was unwell, said an aide.
No comments:
Post a Comment