CURRENT LEADERS SHOULD WORK WITH PREVIOUS LEADERS -MALAYSIAN PM

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak believes that current leaders should work with previous leaders to lead the country towards greater heights.

"I appreciate positive remarks and comments from our previous leaders. It
means that they are very much together, to face the challenges.

"We need to work together...present and past leaders, so that we can really
take Malaysia to greater heights," he told reporters after launching the
Malaysia Corporate Identity Number (MyCoID) here Thursday.

Two days ago, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave his nod of
approval to Najib's leadership for having an administration that met both the
needs of the people and the country.

On a statement by former Perak Chief Minister Mohammad Nizar
Jamaluddin that the opposition would be willing to cooperate with the Perak
Government if several conditions were met, Najib said he left it to Chief
Minister Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir to decide.

The conditions involved allowing the opposition to use the community hall,
not to bar them (opposition members) from attending the state action community
and district action community meetings, and providing allocations for opposition
assemblymen.

Asked whether the government would negotiate with China to reduce its
exports to Malaysia, Najib said the negotiation needed to go on the basis of
Asean-China FTA (Free Trade Agreement) as a multilateral agreement.

"It's a multilateral agreement. It can't be on the basis of bilateral
arrangement.

"Whatever it is, (it should be) negotiated on Asean-China FTA basis. But the
most important thing is for us to be as competitive as possible. We need to be
competitive and make whatever adjustment necesscary for us to succeed," he
added.

The Asean-China FTA came into effect on Jan 1, this year.

However, some parties have expressed concern that the trade liberalisation
agreement had hurt local manufacturers.

-- BERNAMA