The former premier also answered charges that his sons had bigger government contracts than Pak Lah's son, Kamaluddin in this first of a three-part interview.

We'll kick this off with your recent comments on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. You said that you expected him to be a one-term prime minister. Why did you say that?

Well, I thought that the better candidate was Datuk Najib (Abdul Razak, present deputy premier), because he had the highest vote (in the 2000 Umno party elections) and he has the ability. But I also thought that he was, maybe, a little bit young so he should give an older person a chance. That was why I decided on Abdullah.