KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 - Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi said today that he will call a meeting "as soon as possible after Hari Raya" to speak to component parties about the Umno leadership transition plan.
"We have nothing to hide," he told reporters during the Cabinet open house at Putra World Trade Centre.
"We will have a session, people will speak and we will listen to what they say," he answered when asked whether the meeting would simply be to inform the other parties about the decision or to discuss the matter.
Abdullah, who is also Umno president and prime minister, had set June 2010 as the deadline to hand over the reins to his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak. However, the transfer will happen sooner with Abdullah himself saying that the postponement of the Umno party polls, from December to March next year, was to "facilitate an earlier transition."
"It has always been this way with party elections. But now there is a transition plan in place, so we will tell them," he explained.
Abdullah has also recently handed over the finance ministry to Najib.
"It will take Najib some time to come up with strategies and plans for the economy," he said in relation to the current global financial storm.
He also confirmed that Hindraf supporters who had attended his open house were stopped at the door but were allowed in later.
"I cannot have a special meeting with anyone. It is an open house," he said when asked if he had met the supporters.
Later, when a group of supporters were allowed into the dining hall, he shook hands with them and received a gift basket with a teddy bear and Hari Raya card from K. Shanti, wife of exiled Hindraf chairman, P. Waytha Moorthy.
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