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KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia - A small party in Malaysia's ruling coalition announced Wednesday it was quitting and would become independent, in a fresh blow for the beleaguered government.
The decision by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), which has two lawmakers in parliament, comes as the opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim is signing up defectors from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in a bid to seize power.
"The SAPP supreme council has declared that the party is no longer a member of the Barisan Nasional coalition," party president Yong Teck Lee told a press conference.
"We will be independent at the moment and provide quality opposition in and outside the parliament, as well as the state assembly, until the time comes when SAPP is ready to be back in the government."
Yong said SAPP was not joining Anwar's three-member Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance.
"But we will be in consultation with all parties, Pakatan included, that shares our beliefs and struggles," he said.
The SAPP has been an irritant to the coalition since June, when it called for a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and its departure from the coalition was not unexpected.
In the past it has said it would consider joining the opposition, which has actively courted disaffected lawmakers in Malaysia's underdeveloped eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Yong has previously attacked the coalition's record in impoverished Sabah, which lies on Malaysia's half of Borneo island, saying it had been subject to unfair laws and excessive taxes.
Anwar said this week that he has the support of more than 31 lawmakers from the coalition, giving him a small majority in parliament that would end Barisan Nasional's 51-year rule over this Muslim-majority nation.
He has called for a meeting with Abdullah to arrange a smooth transition of power, but the premier has refused and demanded that Anwar release the names of the defectors.
In March elections, the coalition won 140 seats and the opposition claimed 82, denying the government its two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time in history.
- AFP/ir
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