A high-profile trip to Taiwan organised by the Backbenchers Club purportedly to study agriculture, but panned by the opposition as a ploy to thwart their plan to form a new government, may gather steam as the two camps dig in for a potential showdown in busy Taipei.

This afternoon at 2pm, a five-member team from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's PKR party, consisting of party strategist Saifuddin Nasution, deputy election director Fuziah Salleh, publicity chief Tian Chua, PKR Wanita publicity chief Elizabeth Wong and supreme council member Loh Chee Cheong will fly to Taiwan, where they plan to stay at the same hotel as the backbenchers.

pkr weekly pc 120707 tian chua "Yes, definitely we are going, I'm just packing my things," Tian Chua told Malaysiakini this morning.

"We will be meeting with a few of the MPs. And besides talking about the need for them to rethink about the Barisan, we will also point out to them how Taiwan transformed itself from a one-party state into one of the most vibrant democracies in Asia without damaging the economy."

Anwar, whose PKR party together with PAS and DAP form the Pakatan Rakyat alliance, has been in talks with disgruntled Barisan Nasional backbenchers, promising voters his coalition would wrest control of Parliament by Sept 16. The Pakatan currently holds 81 out of the 222 parliamentary seats.

But Anwar's plan may come unstuck after the Barisan last week packed 49 of its legislators off on a tour to Taiwan, where they have become a favourite target of the local media there.

Their stay at the plush Taipei Hilton where they reportedly consumed sumptuous seafood buffets, as well as allegations they were offered ‘pocket money' of between RM50,000 and RM500,000 to go on the trip attracted widespread and assiduous press coverage almost daily.

Deadline looms

Chairperson of the BN Backbenchers Club Tiong King Sing, who organised the trip, has denied it was aimed at blocking defections to the Pakatan.

49 mp back benchers parliament taiwan study trip klia airport 090908 "Officially, our tour finishes on Sept 13. In fact, about five to six MPs had already gone back on Wednesday," he told Singapore Straits Times in an interview yesterday.

"So there is still time to Sept 16. But I cannot rule out that some of them may want to extend their stay by one or two days," Tiong added.

Regardless of whether the PKR's mission in Taipei takes off or fizzles out, opposition members are also starting to hedge their bets as the Tuesday deadline nears.

"Whether the political transformation takes place in four days on 916 (Sept 16), or 1016 (Oct 16), 1116 (Nov 16) or in an early 13th general election is a secondary question to the important fact that the Malaysian political mould has been completely recast and it is only a matter of time a transition of federal power is effected," said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang in a statement today.

"What is most significant about "916" is not whether federal power will change hands from Barisan to Pakatan in four days' time, but in the sea-change in the political attitude of Malaysians as compared to six months ago before the March 8 general elections," he added.

Despite the rhetoric from both camps, Malaysians have generally reacted with impatience and disgust more than anything else over the ruckus kicked up by the trip.

While some are angry with the BN for making a laughing stock of the country, there are also those who are waiting to throw the book at Anwar should he fail to deliver next week.