International Trade and Industry Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said today he has no plans to bow to the requests of his cabinet colleague and resign as they have demanded.

The 61-year-old minister put a cat among the pigeons last week when he called on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down earlier than his stated timeline of June 2010.

umno retreat muhyiddin yassin pc 060608Muhyiddin said the succession pact Abdullah made with his deputy Najib Abdul Razak may no longer be tenable and the baton should be passed on to Najib sooner.

"I was giving my own opinion and the viewpoint of the grassroots party members," Muhyiddin was quoted as saying by The Star.

"I didn't issue a statement asking the prime minister to resign, but I only asked him to reconsider the transition plan because the time frame is too long," he said.

De facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim, who today tendered his resignation in protest against the arrests of three people under the Internal Security Act last week, was among those who asked Muhyiddin to resign if he was unhappy with Abdullah.

The 68-year old Abdullah has brushed aside calls from within his own Umno party to step down, warning dissenters to stop all talk of an early leadership change.