Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has expressed disappointment that there were not enough debates on corruption during the just concluded 57th Umno general assembly.

"I wish there could have been more [...] but I have no choice in telling the people what they should debate, what they should say," Abdullah told a press conference after the assembly's closing ceremony at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Abdullah had won the 2004 general elections by a landslide victory on a manifesto which had a strong anti-corruption pledge. The topic was also avoided altogether by most of Umno's top brass during their winding-up addresses this afternoon.

On the uproar over Umno exco member Mukhriz Mahathir's criticism of the Umno presidential address, Abdullah said that the matter would be dealt with by the youth movement.

Mukhriz, youngest son of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on Tuesday told reporters that he was a 'little bit' disappointed with the presidential address because there was 'nothing new' to it.

Asked whether he felt offended by Mukhriz's remarks, Abdullah said, "Well, he has said something which I thought was not right at all".

Earlier today, Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein said that Mukhriz had gone against the movement's collective decision in not endorsing Abdullah's policy speech.

Asked if he was still open to criticism, Abdullah retorted, "Why are you saying that I'm not open to criticism?"

On whether there should be a stop to the raging debate over the methodology used by the government to calculate bumiputera share equity, Abdullah said the debate would die a natural death.

"I think after this there will be no more debate. It just so happens that Umno is having a general assembly and it is an important issue which they (delegates) cannot ignore and must give their opinion," he said.

ISA 'is fair'

Halfway through the 10-minute press conference, Abdullah had reporters in stiches when he provided rapid fire responses to questions on the Internal Security Act (ISA) vis-a-vis Islam Hadhari.

Abdullah has insisted that ISA was in line with his concept of Islam Hadhari.

Reporter: Datuk Seri said the government is fair. Are laws such as the ISA which allow for detention without trial in line with the aspirations of Islam Hadhari?

Abdullah: [They are] fair and in line with Islam Hadhari. (Adil dan selaras dengan Islam Hadhari)

Is the ISA ...

Yes, fair and in line with Islam Hadhari [sounding annoyed]

No, I-S-A act ... (reporter spells out the acronym)

ISA yes! Haiya ...

But it is detention without trial.

There are reasons. (Ada sebab-sebabnya)

But when they are released, there is no proof of their guilt?

When they were arrested there was (evidence), but we made them good people (while in detention). (Bila ditahan ada (bukti) tetapi kita dah buat mereka orang baik)

Why not produce them in court?

Because there are security issues and other problems that cannot be discussed or brought to court. (Sebab ada issue security dan masalah-masalah lain lagi, yang bukan perkara yang boleh dibincang dan dihadapan ke mahkamah)