KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will tell thousands of supporters at a rally on Monday that he is still confident of unseating the coalition that has ruled the country for over half a century.

The rally, expected to draw 30,000 supporters to a stadium in the opposition-held state of Selangor in central Malaysia, comes on the eve of Datuk Seri Anwar's bid to lure 30 MPs from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to his opposition bloc.

'My personal target is within September,' Mr Anwar told the Asian Wall Street Journal in a interview published on Monday.

Mr Anwar's aides will hand a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday seeking a meeting with him for a 'peaceful power transition' to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance, one of his party officials said.

'I don't think the September 16 plan is going to happen as he doesn't have enough numbers and some of the Barisan MPs have not returned from overseas,' said one foreign diplomat.

'The plan could be delayed to September 20.'

September 20 was the date Mr Anwar was arrested 10 years ago after falling out with the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Earlier last week, the government sent 50 of its 140 MPs on a study trip to Taiwan. Some have since returned home.

Abdullah under pressure
Datuk Seri Abdullah's leadership came under intense pressure at the weekend after the police arrested a blogger, a journalist and an opposition MP under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) that allows definite detention without trial.

Political tensions are bubbling after the government extended its crackdown by issuing warning letters to three newspapers.

The bestselling The Star newspaper, in a sharp rebuke against Mr Abdullah, on Monday carried a story about six cabinet ministers criticising Mr Abdullah for using the Act on the three people.

One of them, Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim, said he was prepared to quit if he was considered to have broken ranks.

The journalist was released on Saturday after party leaders personally appealed to the prime minister. The government said she had been taken into custody for her own protection.

Mr Abdullah faced another test on September 18 when his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) meets amid fresh calls within the party for him to resign earlier than 2010 as agreed.

Mr Abdullah, who is Umno president, has resisted pressure to stand aside since the government lost its two-thirds majority in parliament to a resurgent opposition in elections in March.

The political tensions have unnerved investors. The cost of insuring Malaysia's debt has risen sharply to around U$134,591 (S$192,512) per US$10 million of debt from US$90,185 prior to the March election, based on prices for 5-year credit default swaps, a barometer of risk.