Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today rejected a call by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim for an emergency Parliament session to debate a no-confidence motion.

"I don't see the need as Parliament will sit after Ramadan," the prime minister told reporters after chairing an Umno supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur today.

abdullah ahmad badawi pak lah pc 050908 04 Supreme Council memders who were present, including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and party secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor, were heard saying "what for" in the background before the PM responded.

Parliament is set to resume sitting on Oct 13.

Earlier today, Anwar said he had sent a letter to Abdullah asking him to convene an emergency session of Parliament to debate a motion of no confidence against his leadership.

"I have made a formal request to call for an emergency session in Parliament to deliberate a motion of censure against the leadership of Abdullah not later than Sept 23," he had said.

But Abdullah said today what he had seen so far was only a press statement, adding that such a proposal should be brought up according to proper procedures such as in the form of a letter.

It appeared that he has yet to receive Anwar's letter which was sent to the Prime Minister's Office at 3pm today.

No further ISA arrests

The premier also said he did not intend to use the Internal Security Act against Anwar.

"I have no plans regarding the use of the ISA on anybody. I did not say anything (about the ISA arrest) to anybody. If a person feels he will be arrested under the ISA, maybe he is guilty, I don't know."

Abdullah has been under tremendous pressure recently from Anwar who had said that he had sufficient number of defectors from Barisan Nasional to form a government.

Yesterday the prime minister swapped cabinet portfolio with his deputy in what is seen as a response to the growing clamour for him to step down and hand over the job to his deputy.

He was asked if any more cabinet reshuffling was likely, to which he replied: "If there is, you will know it."

Abdullah also brushed aside calls made by Mubarak's - association of ex-BN MPs and state assemblypersons - for him to quit immediately.

"It does not matter, let Mubarak say whatever, they are pensioners already," he said.

Listening to the grassroots

However, the Umno leader said that he listening to demands of the party grassroots.

"I'm keeping my ears close to the ground and paying attention to what is happening regarding the situation in the party. Whatever decision I make on this, I will discuss with Najib and I will bring it to the attention of the supreme council."

On him defending his presidency in December, the premier replied: "I have already talked about this yesterday. But the (divisions) meetings have not started yet so if there is anything else that I need to do, it's up to me and I will speak to Najib."

The three-hour supreme council meeting did not discuss the move by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad seeking to rejoin Umno, because the PM said "it was not brought up".

Mahathir left the party in May, saying that he would not return to the party which he had led for 22 years until Abdullah has stepped down as Umno president.

Also the council decided to take action against four party members - one from Beluran and the rest from Beaufort in Sabah - for campaigning for the opposition in March 8 polls. The president said appropriate action will be taken.

On the possible Pensiangan by-election in Sabah, Abdullah said the supreme council today discussed the preparation but no candidate has been identified yet since the BN will appeal against the court decision.

Muhyiddin to remain vocal

muhyiddin yassin malaysian service development council pc 090908 03 Meanwhile, party vice-president Muhyiddin Yassin said he would continue to highlight issues raised by the grassroots.

In recent weeks, he has been a vocal critic of Abdullah and had asked him to hasten his departure from the top post.

“The supreme council had noted my concerns and I will continue to voice the concerns from the grassroots in the future,” he told reporters.

“Supreme council members who keep quiet during the meeting are considered to be agreeable to the general consensus of the council,” he added.

Several Umno leaders had called for Muhyiddin to be censured for speaking openly against Abdullah.

However, it is learnt that the council decided not to take any action against him.

Watch 7-min video of PM's press conference