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The present term mandate for the Abdullah Administration will not expire until April 2009.

The issue is: Will the complementing factors for another Barisan Nasional win in the coming general elections hold that long? Will new negative impacts crop out along the way when the fuse becomes too short to exterminate?

Late last month, Abdullah himself postured that he will serve out the full 5-year mandate, and mainstream papers echoed that BN is in no hurry for polls.

This week, even economists and NGO activists are reading tea-leaves differently.

Yesterday, Citigroup economist Chua Hak Bin said in a note to investors that it expects Abdullah Badawi to call for early elections, possibly by December this year or early next year.

Chua predicts that Malaysia's stock market will rally -- if that happened.

Citigroup's prediction was carried by Thomson Financial and picked up by CNNMoney.

The economist's alert was in fact preceeded by earlier reports in Sin Chew Daily and Kwong Wah Jit Poh, which said Abdullah is summoning all BN elected representatives and appointed senators for a full-day pre-election briefing scheduled for October 21.

Evidently, the vernacular press is hinting that general election is around the corner.

The Star followed up on the story by saying that a total of 711 elected representatives and senators are scheduled to attend the forum organised by the newly formed Forum Wakil Rakyat Malaysia (Fowram).

Fowram was positioned as a brainchild of Abdullah Badawi based on the European Parliamentary Forum concept. It is led by Umno vice president Mohd Ali Rustam, the lightning rod to controversial pig-farm closure in Malacca.

Interestingly, among the agenda listed for the Oct 21 meet was to discuss how alternative media -- such as online newspapers; blogs and SMS -- are being used to "create a negative perception of government leaders".

(I thought David Sasaki, who was here to talk about how good and bad governments around the world are responding to blogs, should make a suitable speaker at the Fowram forum.)

To be sure, briefing incumbent elected representatives in the run-up to general elections had been a hallmark practice during the Mahathir era. Ironically, Abdullah chose to emulate he predecessor whose legacy he tried best to shadow.

Nov 10 Mass rally

Incidentally, BERSIH -- Coalition for Clean & Fair Election (Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih & Adil) -- yesterday held a press conference at PAS headquarters yesterday to announce a mass rally on November 10 to press for a clean and fair election.

The rally, expected to amass 10,000 people, will end with a walk from Dataran Merdeka to the National Palace where a memorandum seeking reforms in the electoral process will be submitted to the Agong.

Nevertheless, there are also quarters who said Abdullah is hurrying for an early poll before Dr Mahathir recovers fully to launch fresh fatal attacks on his performance as the prime minister for the past four years.

Opinion polls conducted by the Merdeka Centre of Opinion Survey that Abdullah's approval rating plummeted from the high 80's to around 65% on two occasions Mahathir made the attacks on his quality of governance.