81 MPs ask king to put off Najib's appointment

All 81 Pakatan Rakyat members of parliament have submitted a petition to King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin to appeal for the postponement of Najib Abdul Razak's appointment as the prime minister.

The petition, which was submitted to the palace yesterday, was signed by Anwar Ibrahim on behalf of PKR, Abdul Hadi Awang for PAS and Lim Kit Siang for DAP.

The Pakatan MPs said the appointment should be put off until an independent commission cleared Najib of any wrongdoings.

The MPs said that Najib should be investigated on claims linking him to the Altantuya murder case.

"Of late, there have been too many scandals associated with the deputy prime minister. For example, he has been linked to a scandal involving commissions in the purchase of Scorpene submarines.

"Even worse, he has been linked with the murder of a Mongolian woman, and the case has been reported in newspapers and magazines around the world.

"Hence, we urge the king to postpone his appointment as prime minister until all these allegations have been cleared by an independent commission," said the MPs in the petition.

They added that the position of the prime minister was the most important in the country and as such, it must be given to someone with unquestionable integrity.

Power transition set in motion

According to Pakatan Rakyat secretariat secretary Shabrimi Sidek, the Pakatan leaders would not be seeking an audience with the king over this matter.

He said that the leaders were presently busy campaigning for the upcoming triple by-elections.

It is highly unlikely the king will consider the MPs request as the transition of power was already set in motion today with outgoing premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi having an audience with the king earlier this morning to hand in his resignation.

The king then met Najib, who will have an audience with the monarch again tomorrow morning to be sworn in as the nation's sixth prime minister.

He also replaced Abdullah as the Umno president last week.

Najib has come under constant fire from the opposition for his alleged role in the death of Altantuya, an accusation which he has repeatedly denied.

Abdullah handover was precipitated by the horrendous showing of Barisan Nasional in the last general election.