Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Wednesday that he might resign before a previously set deadline of 2010, as a dissident party said it would pull out of his ruling coalition.

The small Sabah Progressive Party announced it would quit the ruling National Front coalition because of dissatisfaction with the prime minister.

The decision was hardly a surprise after the party said in June that it would propose a no-confidence motion in Parliament against Abdullah's leadership.

Although the party has only two lawmakers in Parliament, its act of rare defiance against Abdullah underscores the embattled leader's struggle to hold on to power.

Abdullah, who has been facing mounting pressure from within his own ruling party to resign, said earlier on Tuesday he would hand over his portfolio as finance minister to his deputy Najib Razak, and take on the smaller defence ministry from Najib.

Abdullah, who has promised to step down in June 2010, declined to give further details or a timeframe for his resignation.

"The timing is flexible. It is possible, if I may want to leave earlier but not beyond 2010," Abdullah was quoted as saying by the official Bernama agency.

He said the portfolio changes were aimed at gradually handing over greater responsibilities to Najib as part of a planned power transfer.

Abdullah has been fighting off calls by dissidents in his United Malays National Organization for him to resign, following the National Front coalition's surprising losses in the country's March general elections.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim led a three-party alliance to deny the Front a two-thirds majority in Parliament and wrest control of five states. The opposition now holds 82 seats out of 222 in Parliament.

The National Front's election performance was the worst in the history of its 50-year rule, and Abdullah's leadership style was blamed for the losses.

Sabah's decision to quit means that the National Front now controls 137 seats in Parliament compared to the opposition's 82. Party president Yong Teck Lee said its legislators would remain independent, but did not dismiss the possibility of joining Anwar's camp.

Anwar claimed Tuesday that he has the support of enough government lawmakers to take over. dpa