Malaysia's PM faces no-confidence vote

Malaysia's opposition leader said yesterday she would seek a parliamentary vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Najib Razak, who faces fierce scrutiny over corruption allegations.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she would submit the motion on behalf of the three-party opposition coalition "within the next few days", seeking to call Najib to account over a scandal that has roiled Malaysian markets and battered the government's image.

"We have to save our country," Wan Azizah, the wife of jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, told reporters on the sidelines of parliament as it reconvened yesterday.

Malaysia has been gripped by political crisis for months over allegations of massive sums missing from a state-owned company Najib launched, and the revelation that nearly $700 million in mysterious deposits were made to his personal bank accounts.

Opposition figures warned, however, that bringing the motion to a vote was a long shot given the sway that the powerful ruling coalition holds over parliament.

An opposition parliamentarian had submitted a similar motion at the weekend but it has been withdrawn in favour of Wan Azizah's, opposition figures said. Malaysian investigations into the scandal have apparently stalled after Najib in July shuffled his cabinet to purge critics and replaced the longtime attorney-general with his own appointee.