PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: It has been late nights for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi this past week, finalising the general election candidates' list.

His bedtime has been past 1am daily and until yesterday evening, the full list could not be finalised, he said.

"We (including Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) have a lot of work to do to choose the best candidates to contest in the general election.

"I have to meet Mentris Besar and component party leaders to finalise the parliamentary and state seats everyday," he said, adding that the process was taking a long time as there were many factors to be considered before making a final decision.

Abdullah was addressing hundreds of members of the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia at a special function to declare their support for him, at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here yesterday.

He said he told Najib he had to take some time off to attend the event and would continue with the meetings with Mentris Besar after the event.

Abdullah also said that after asking elected representatives to submit report cards on their performance, it was his turn to provide a progress report on his performance during his tenure as Prime Minister.

"MPs and those in the administration have given me their reports cards for me to gauge their performance.

"I, as the Prime Minister, will also give a progress report of the nation since 2004," he said.

He, however, did not state when he would make his progress report public.

Expressing his delight over seeing so many Malay entrepreneurs and industrialists in Malaysia compared to many years back, Abdullah hoped there would be more entrepreneurs.

He also advised the entrepreneurs to create more job opportunities for others irrespective of race and religion.

Abdullah added that the country also needed more academicians to build the country as well as educate the younger generation.

Repeating some of the achievements of the country, Abdullah said the Gross Domestic Product had increased by 18% from RM427bil in 2004 to RM504bil last year.

"We also received a record 21 million tourists last year in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year while international trade increased by 26% from RM881bil in 2004 to RM1.113 trillion last year."

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