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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's opposition said Monday that up to 16 ruling party lawmakers are prepared to join its ranks, as it works to seize power with the help of defectors.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has said he is moving towards forming a new government after elections that saw the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition - led by the United Malays National Organisation - suffer unprecedented losses.
"We have up to 15 to 16 lawmakers from BN, including UMNO MPs, who want to join Keadilan," Shamsul Iskandar Mohamad Akin, the youth leader of Anwar's Keadilan party, told reporters.
The government, which would lose power if 30 of its lawmakers switch sides, has reacted swiftly to the threat, accusing the opposition of "buying" over its members and threatening a new law to prevent defections.
Shamsul said Keadilan was not buying up lawmakers, or even encouraging them to defect, and that they had voluntarily held talks with Keadilan to discuss crossing over.
"They have come and met Anwar Ibrahim because they have lost faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. They are not crossing over for monetary gains," he said.
"If they want to come over - both lawmakers and members - we will accept them but we are against buying them over."
Abdullah is under pressure to resign after the coalition was humiliated in March 8 polls, losing its two-thirds majority in parliament and conceding five states to the opposition.
Shamsul said most of the lawmakers planning to defect are from the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak.
However, so far no politician has declared a shift to the opposition, and a Sarawak lawmaker who was reported to have defected insisted last week that he remained with the ruling coalition.
Barisan Nasional will have 140 lawmakers in the new 222-seat parliament, against 199 in the outgoing 219-seat parliament.
The opposition alliance won 80 seats from just 19 previously.
Anwar's Keadilan party, which is formally headed by his wife, will be the biggest opposition party in parliament, but Anwar is barred from standing for public office until April because of a corruption conviction. - AFP/vm
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