By SEAN YOONG
Associated Press
2008-09-15 05:56 PM

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's alliance remained secretive Monday about whether it was on the brink of ousting Malaysia's long-entrenched government, but sought a meeting with the prime minister to discuss security issues.
Anwar has claimed in recent months that his three-party opposition grouping would be able to lure scores of ruling coalition lawmakers to defect by Tuesday. But opposition leaders have indicated in the past week that their self-imposed deadline seemed unattainable.

Azmin Ali, vice president of Anwar's People's Justice Party, said Anwar would clarify matters while addressing a rally late Monday in Kuala Lumpur.

"Wait for him to make an announcement. We cannot speculate for now," Azmin said.

However, speculation has surfaced that Anwar might announce the names of several defectors Monday.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has pledged to thwart Anwar's attempt to unseat the National Front, which has governed for 51 years but suffered its worst electoral result ever in March national polls.

Anwar's plan apparently hit a snag when about 50 National Front lawmakers went on a farming study tour in Taiwan last week amid opposition claims that the government sent them there to keep them away from Anwar and to dissuade defections.

Some of the legislators have returned to Malaysia, but the opposition has been scrambling to deal with the arrests last week of one of its own lawmakers and an anti-government blogger under a law allowing detention without trial for people regarded as national security threats.

A third person arrested under the Internal Security Act, a journalist, was freed Saturday.

Hatta Ramli, an official in the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said opposition representatives submitted a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's office Monday requesting a meeting between him and top opposition leaders as soon as possible.

The meeting would primarily be to "discuss the current situation, especially security, following the recent arrests," Hatta said. He refused to say whether the opposition also wanted to discuss issues linked to its plan to capture power.

The prime minister's aides could not immediately be reached for comment.

Abdullah's grip on power has become tenuous amid splintering support in his coalition, which lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time since 1969 when it retained only 140 seats in the 222-member Parliament during the March elections.

Malaysia's Cabinet minister in charge of legal affairs, Zaid Ibrahim, submitted a resignation letter to Abdullah on Monday after protesting last week's arrests. Zaid and several other government ministers have broken ranks and criticized the use of the security law.