Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will decide if he wants to file a defamation suit against Malaysiakini before he travels abroad tomorrow, said his lawyer Mohd Hafarizam Harun.

The prime minister's 48-hour ultimatum to the news portal to retract its publication of readers' comments and apologise unconditionally expired two days ago.

Hafarizam ( left ) said he will seek an appointment with Najib either tonight or tomorrow morning.

"I will be fixing an appointment with him before he leaves the country tomorrow," he told reporters today.

Najib is of the opinion that two 'Yoursay' articles published on May 14, namely ' A case of the PM reaping what he sows ' and ' How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu? ' over the political crisis in Terengganu, were defamatory.

The legal letter, hand delivered to the Malaysiakini office in Bangsar, also claimed that the comments made by six readers were seditious.

In the letter, Hafarizam said if Malaysiakini does not respond to the demands, his law firm has received "strict instructions" to initiate court action against the news portal, including filing an injunction to prevent further publication of similar content.

Signed undertakings sought

Najib and Umno also want Malaysiakini to sign undertakings that the news portal will not publish similar statements and to be careful in publishing readers' comments which they described as "generally empty accusations and ill-intentioned allegations".

In a letter of reply, Malaysiakini offered the prime minister the right to reply with regard to the aforementioned news items.

Quizzed on this today, Hafarizam said he will convey this option to Najib when he meets him.

"Yes, off course, I will put forward all the options and offer it to the client to decide," he added.

The prime minister is going on a two-day trip to Tokyo on Thursday to give a keynote speech at the 20th Nikkei International Conference on the Future of Asia.

He is also Najib is also scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.