Malaysian opposition rejects Mahathir's conciliatory moves

The wife of the jailed former Malaysian finance minister Anwar Ibrahim has refused to attend talks on Malay unity proposed by the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The leader of the National Justice party, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, said in a statement that the main issue facing the government was not disunity among ethnic Malays, but a crisis of confidence in the country's leadership, corruption, police brutality and the weak economy.

Her party's coalition partner, PAS Parti Islam Malaysia has said it would like to broaden the agenda for the talks.

The Bernama news agency quoted the deputy prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as saying that efforts to unite the Malays would not be affected by the National Justice party's decision not to attend the talks. Some opposition leaders say the talks are a ploy to recover support for the ruling coalition from Malays, which was damaged by the jailing of Anwar Ibrahim.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service