Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's honeymoon is over. So, too, is Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 'retire-moon'. And this is where the fun really begins.

The reasons? The pressure is now on Abdullah to really deliver. As for his ex-boss Mahathir, chinks are beginning to appear in his armour.

After a grand send-off extravaganza when he quit two years ago, it must be hard for Mahathir to see himself being ticked off by the local media, however mild it appeared to be.

After all, you'd expect bad press from foreigners, but not from those who ate from the palms of your hands all these years.

So it wasn't surprising that Mahathir was incensed when MCA-owned The Star 's deputy editor-in-chief Wong Chun Wai took a swipe at him.

In his May 29 column , Wong had wished that Mahathir could have done more for the fight against corruption when in power (read: Who is the ex-PM to talk about graft?).

Stung, Mahathir almost immediately called for a press conference to defend himself . He, however, did not stop there. He went on to chastise one of his most loyal lieutenants, Rafidah Aziz.

Buddies no more?

This caused a stir in the political circles as the two veteran leaders go back a long way.

It was Mahathir who stonewalled the Anti-Corruption Agency investigations against Rafidah for her involvement in the allotment of bumiputera shares worth millions to her son-in-law, Fazrin Azwar Mohd Nor .

That was during the a-go-go years when the mandatory 30 percent bumiputera shares in publicly-listed companies was a source of easy money for Umnoputras. Many made a quick killing when the shares were sold soon after these companies were floated on the stock exchange.

Rafidah did not deny that she chaired the meeting where the spoils of the bumi shares were divided. Her defence? That she was instructed to be there by none other than Mahathir himself.

Apparently, Mahathir had told her to ensure that his own son also got a share of the shares.

Indeed, Wong was right. Mahathir was part of the problem, not the solution he claimed to be.

All this is an open secret, especially for those who followed the trials and tribulations of Keadilan leader Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor - who was jailed and later freed - for revealing secret government documents on the Rafidah case.

With the fate of these two political titans so closely tied together, it was not surprising that Rafidah rushed to the podium in horror when Mahathir announced his shock resignation at the 2002 Umno general assembly.

Get-rich-quick scheme

Fast forward to 2005.

It is indeed ironic that the root of the spat between the two is another get-rich-quick scheme - approved permits (APs).

Mahathir is painfully aware that his political legacy is tied to the survival of his most cherished pet project - national carmaker Proton which appointed him as advisor.

By now, it is clear that his ideological and emotional attachment to Proton is not shared by his colleagues in government, and dare I say, many Malaysians as well.

Malaysians have been forced to pay almost three times the price of a similar make elsewhere for over 20 years just to keep Proton afloat. This additional 'tax' contributed up to eight percent of the government's coffers annually and has helped fatten Proton's purse.

The protection of Proton also benefitted a small group of politically well-connected individuals who are given the right to sell foreign cars locally through import licences called APs.

These APs are issued by, yes, Rafidah's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Beneficiaries sell their APs to auto distributors for prices as much as RM50,000 per vehicle, and this cost - plus other hefty government taxes - is passed on to car buyers.

Getting APs is akin to striking the lottery and it is estimated that these individuals rake in about RM1 billion every year.

But now Mahathir considers the AP system, where prices of foreign imports are often under-declared, as unfair competition to Proton. And in the heat of the debate, Mahathir did the unthinkable - he called on the government to bare all on the AP holders.

Malaysians are following the squabble with morbid fascination. It is only when there is a split in the ranks of the government that we get a glimpse of the inner workings of Putrajaya.

A deal stitched

Time and again, Abdullah has argued that transparency is crucial in his fight against corruption. Perhaps he should start practicing what he preaches. The best place to begin is with the opaque AP system.

Obviously, the government was appalled by Mahathir's challenge. The secret AP list, which incidentally included Mahathir's son, will no doubt be a veritable list of who's who in Umno.

Last week, Abdullah declared the controversy over when Rafidah made peace with Mahathir in a letter , and then took an unprecedented two-week leave.

Clearly, a deal has been struck - the government will crack down on the under-declaration of prices of foreign imports to humour Mahathir, while the old man is to keep his mouth shut on the AP list.

Abdullah may wish that the controversy will now go away. But this is not for Abdullah to decide. That decision should be left to Malaysians.

And should we let this controversy pass - like the many previous scandals that have cost us dearly - then we do truly deserve the leaders we elect.