Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said PAS was offered the position of Selangor Mentri Besar at the early stage of the Umno-PAS when the state government has yet to be formed.He said there was nothing wrong with making such an offer as during that time, Umno felt it has garnered the highest number of votes during the general election, therefore it has the right to negotiate with any parties to form the government.
"At that time, Umno held that it has a right to seek the opportunity to form the government and to negotiate with any parties to form the government. It was in that process that it came up. It was in that kind of argument.
"There was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing bad about it because the government has yet to be formed and Umno felt that the party with the highest number of votes has the right to seek cooperation, alliance or coalition with any political parties," he said Friday (July 25).
Abdullah said Umno had felt that Barisan Nasional (BN), as the coalition with the biggest number of votes, should lead the Selangor government because opposition’s Pakatan Rakyat was not a formal registered party like BN.
"If they (BN) had enough votes, they were able to present to the Sultan of Selangor, (saying) look, we have enough number of votes to form the government. But it never happen," he said.
Asked whether there is a likelihood of cooperation in terms of politic with PAS rather than on religion and unity only, he said: "I do not wish to make any kinds of prediction on what can happen in future."
On the purchase of 14 Mercedes E200 Kompressor cars by the Terengganu state government, he said during a discussion with his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said, it has been decided the luxury cars will be used for state guests.
"It was already a cabinet decision that the Terengganu government should not use the Mercedes for its exco and state officials. That we have decided. That is clear.
"But in this matter, since the Mercedes have been bought, if they were to sell them, there would be a loss, so I said use them for the state guests in future," he said.
On calls by certain quarters for the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to investigate projects in under the previous government in Terengganu like the Monsoon Cup and Islamic Civilisation Garden, he said it is up to ACA to do so.
"If the ACA found there were reasons for it to carry out investigation due to the presence of elements related to corruption, it is up to ACA. It is for the ACA to decide," he said.
On the call by three former foreign figures for Malaysia to drop its sodomy charges against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Washington would continue to speak out in legal cases such as that of Anwar, despite accusations of meddling, Abdullah had this to say:
"We are a sovereign country. We have our own set of laws. Whatever we do we will make every effort to ensure it is consistent with the laws that we have in Malaysia . That’s what we do and I hope people will respect that. Therefore I would say nothing else."
The three figures were former Canadian prime minister Paul Martin, ex-World Bank chief James Wolfensohn and former head of International Monetary Fund Michel Camdessus.
On whether there were plans to show the footage of Anwar while in police detention on July 16, he said: "The investigation is not completed yet. I would not want to say what they need to do or what they need to look into. I leave it entirely to the police.
"The investigation is their responsibility. They should know what to do."
On Singapore ’s claim for the territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone around Pulau Batu Puteh, Abdullah said the cabinet did not discuss it but had knowledge about the matter.
He said a technical committee had been set up following the International Court of Justice’s decision to hand over the island to Singapore therefore any matters arising from the decision should be dealt with by the committee.
"If there were doubts or dissatisfaction over follow-up actions, it should be brought to the committee, no need to fight over or argue about this in the press," he added.
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