PM reiterates plan to hand over premiership to Najib

HUA HIN: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Sunday he would stick to the plan to hand over the premiership to his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak after the Umno election this month.
"Well there was this plan that I have made, so we have to follow the plan," he said at a press conference at the end of the 14th Asean Summit here.
Abdullah, who is also the UMNO President, said this when asked to comment on speculations that he would not relinquish the prime minister's post after the party election later this month.
Abdullah, who became the fifth prime minister in October, 2003, has declined to defend his party post.
Najib is set to take over the party leadership from Abdullah as he is the sole contender for the UMNO presidency after nominations closed for the party's top positions late last year.
Traditionally, the Umno president also assumes the premiership, while the deputy president becomes the deputy prime minister.

tunku : we believe that pak lah would follow the plan which has been made.we hope he won't do any flip flop decision again with his retirement plan as he has been doing all these while in the government administration. what i can't understand is why there is no date set for the handover? this is what make people speculates that he will not step down as pm. if you have decided to retire then give a date.we don't want to hear any reason.there no reason for you to cling on just because the opposition is persuading you to stay on while your on party members can't wait for you to leave.afterall , the Agong has said goodbye to you in advance in the parliament couple of weeks ago.