Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is losing touch with reality, warned opposition leader Lim Kit Siang today.

The veteran politician arrived at this disturbing prognosis based on the prime minister's remarks about the nation 'feeling good'.

Yesterday, Abdullah told reporters: "The people feel good now, better than before, but when the election comes, they will even better."

But according to Lim, this was a case of self-delusion.

"Abdullah is only fooling himself if he believes the country is suffused with a feel good factor," he said in a statement.

On the contrary, Lim diagnosed Malaysians as suffering from the 'feel not good' factor as a result of their disappointments and disillusionments with the Abdullah administration.

'Mission 2004'

In view of this, Lim urged the prime minister to deliver his 'Mission 2004' first before rolling out plans to charter the nation's course for another half-a-century under 'Mission 2057'.

Abdullah also announced yesterday that the Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council decided on 'Mission 2057' to ensure continued development in all aspects after Vision 2020 had been achieved.

However, Lim called on the prime minister to first deliver the promises he made during the 2004 polls.

"It sounded a rather tall tale that the BN supreme council took the policy decision to formulate 'Mission 2057', when it is not only dubious that Vision 2020 could be achieved, but very clear that Abdullah's 'Mission 2004' is headed towards a big flop," he said.

Lim said Abdullah had pledged to make anti-corruption the top agenda when he became the fifth prime minister in November 2003.

After three months at the helm, he said, Abdullah reiterated in an interview his commitment to eradicate corruption.

On his first 100 days in office, the opposition politician, quoted how the prime minister declared in his address to the Cambridge Foundation on February 2004 that: "My first 100 days was my statement of intent. Now we get to work and walk the talk."

Explain 'failures'

But Lim lamented that 1,115 days on, nothing had transpired. "Abdullah had forgotten his declaration of zero tolerance for corruption," he claimed.

To make matters worst, he said, the nation is now faced with its worst crisis of integrity following the scandals involving Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Zulkipli Mat Noor and Deputy Internal Security Minister Mohd Johari Baharum.

He also cited the serious allegation by Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim of judges who accepted bribes.

The opposition leader urged Abdullah to attend Parliament on March 20 to explain the reasons for his administration's 'failure' to live up to the high hopes of Malaysians.

Lim said he would also ask the prime minister to submit a progress report on his reform pledges for the past 40 months.