Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has no plans to axe his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, according to former New Straits Times Group (NSTP) editor-in-chief Kadir Jasin.

Speaking at a public forum in Kuala Lumpur last night, he told the 300-strong audience that it is not easy to remove a person in power.

"I don't think his objective is to remove Abdullah. If he succeeds then who will replace him? The whole exercise is to get the PM to reinstate his polices and projects and to admit his mistakes if any mistakes have been done," he said.

Kadir also dismissed the notion that the on-going saga is a clash of personalities.

"This is not a clash of personalities because the personalities are too different. Mahathir will keep hitting and Abdullah will keep avoiding," he said.

According to the veteran newsman, Mahathir did not envisage that Abdullah, who took over the reins in 2003, will choose to abandon, delay and even cancel the projects mooted by the former in such a short period.

"Abdullah being the nice man that he is, Mahathir believed that he can still whisper a few things to Abdullah, or that Abdullah is least likely to make changes or to do things which will give the impression that Mahathir has been wrong for the past 22 years," he said.

Two other speakers at the forum titled 'Pak Lah vs Dr Mahathir: 'Clash of Personalities or Crisis in Governance' were group executive editor of The Edge P Gunasegaram and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah.

'He might go for Pak Lah'

Sivarasa believed that Mahathir might decide to go after Abdullah if he is unable to remove those close to the premier.

Mahathir has repeatedly claimed that his successor is surrounded by bad advisers, namely Abdullah's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin.

Abdullah recently denied that Khairy, who was even labelled as the country's de facto prime minister, was influencing his decisions.

"The new agenda of Mahathir is the removal of the people around Abdullah but if that cannot be done, then Abdullah himself would have to go," said Sivarasa.

The opposition leader also speculated that Mahathir is moving now because he senses things are unraveling and the situation is becoming dangerous for his family and him.

Citing the upcoming court cases involving Tajudin Ramli, Anwar Ibrahim and Sukma Darmawan, he said: "All sorts of evidence can be brought to court, all things can be exposed."

On politics of patronage and money in Umno, Sivarasa said the party's politics will be dependent on who has a bigger 'war chest'.

"Mahathir has a big war chest. He handled most of Umno's funds ... That is what the battle of Umno is going to be about. It is about buying the loyalty of 2,500 party delegates," he said.

'Hoping for the spoils'

Earlier, Gunasegaram also believed that it is the politics of patronage which is the catalyst for the current rift.

"Those used to getting projects and money-making schemes are not getting them. Many of the people supporting Mahathir are hoping for some of the spoils if he gains ground, both in terms of money and power," he said.

"As long as Umno is centred around politics of patronage and money, we will have a major governance issues in the country. That is the root cause of the problem and that is the challenge that Pak Lah faces and will face again and again," he added.

The forum was organised by Strategic Information Research & Development Centre (SIRD) and moderated by political analyst, James Wong.