By V. Vasudevan, Eileen Ng and David Yeoh

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Barisan Nasional component parties are unanimous in their support for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and censure of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.

All leaders and representatives of component parties who attended a supreme council meeting yesterday reaffirmed their support for Abdullah as prime minister and head of the ruling coalition.

They also described Yong's statements on Wednesday that his party had lost confidence in Abdullah as "unprincipled, unethical and against the BN spirit".

The resolution of support for Abdullah and condemnation of Yong by the BN supreme council was read out by its secretary-general, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

All the component party chiefs were present except Upko's Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, who is in Bangkok on ministerial duty, and People's Progressive Party's Datuk M. Kayveas.

Dompok was represented by party vice-president Senator Maijol Mahap, and Kayveas by vice-president Datuk Lee Heng. SAPP was not invited to the meeting.

The supreme council, which met for more than three hours, however, deferred any action against the SAPP until it had received an official explanation from SAPP's supreme council on Yong's call for a motion of no confidence against Abdullah.

Tengku Adnan, who read a statement after Abdullah had excused himself from the meeting to perform prayers, said Abdullah told all component party leaders to make sure their members of parliament attended the Dewan Rakyat meeting, which begins on Monday.

They were instructed to make sure their members followed the instruction of the BN whip and reject any motion for a no-confidence vote against Abdullah.

Asked why SAPP was not invited to the meeting, Tengku Adnan said this was because its agenda was to discuss SAPP and what it had been saying about the coalition.

"There was no need for them to be present as they had made their statements in the press. We have said that BN component parties can bring up their grouses at the BN supreme council meeting."

Answering a question upon his return to the press conference, Abdullah said the coalition was not afraid of repercussions if it had acted against SAPP yesterday.

"We don't want to rush into making a decision. We have to be correct if we take action against anyone or any party."

Abdullah said the BN whip will also not take action against the party's two MPs - Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) and Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun (Sepanggar) - for their statements supporting Yong.

"The statements were made outside Parliament, not in the House."

However, he said that if the two moved any motion against the government or supported the opposition, they would have to face the consequences.