NEW YORK: "I'm the least ambitious among politicians," said International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in jest at a dinner reception here on Friday.

His answer to a question from the floor, comprising some 100 Malaysian students, professionals and government officials, on the possibility of him becoming Malaysia's prime minister drew laughter.

Muhyiddin, who turned 61 on Thursday, is leading a trade and investment mission to Detroit and New York that ends tomorrow.

Muhyiddin, who is also an Umno vice-president, said the biggest challenge for the party and the country was to have a strong leadership.

"The most important thing is for Umno to have a strong leadership to provide a better future for the party. You need to have a strong leadership as the profile of Malaysia's population had changed.
"This is the biggest challenge and the question is how to deal with it," he said.

Muhyiddin said Umno in particular and Barisan Nasional in general would drift away if the current leadership crisis was not managed correctly.

"There's a shift in the people's mindset, so there is a need for us to re-engineer what we should do to tackle this," he said. - Bernama