Malaysia PM vows to speed reform after poll setback

By Clarence Fernandez and Naveen Thukral

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's prime minister vowed on Tuesday to speed up economic reform after voters gave his government a wake-up call at elections this month.

But Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, speaking to investors, stopped short of a detailed plan or timeframe, promising only a bold new agenda for the nation's needy.

The government, troubled by fresh economic uncertainty, trimmed its economic growth outlook for this year to 6 percent or slightly lower, from an earlier forecast of 6-6.5 percent.

"The result of the election was a strong message that I have not moved fast enough in pushing through with the reforms that I promised to undertake," Abdullah said in opening Invest Malaysia, the country's main annual investor conference, in Kuala Lumpur.

"In this second term as prime minister, I intend to implement a bold agenda for addressing the concerns of the people as expressed through the ballot box," he added.

Abdullah promised to do more to help the poor, to overhaul Malaysia's extensive subsidy system to eliminate waste and to push through further liberalization of bond and stock markets.

The ruling coalition suffered its worst-ever election setback on March 8. It retained a simple majority in federal parliament but lost control of five states to opposition parties who campaigned on issues of corruption and racial inequality.

The election result prompted sweeping changes to Abdullah's cabinet, unveiled last week, and some major policy changes have already been signaled, including reforms to the judiciary and a review of Malaysia's murky system of subsidies.