An ally of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called today for ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be stripped of all government-linked positions as punishment for scathing criticisms of his successor.

Debate is raging within the ruling Umno over whether to dump Mahathir as an adviser to national oil company Petronas, carmaker Proton and the development authority on Langkawi Island.

The party's powerful supreme council is expected to address the issue of retaliation against Mahathir - who has hurled accusations of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement against Abdullah - at its meeting on Thursday.

"(Mahathir) must be sacked immediately from all positions linked to the government. Similar action must also be taken against all of his supporters," said Ahmad Darus, youth chief of Abdullah's political constituency in Kepala Batas.

"Each and every Umno member must realise that we must obey just one president, and that president is Abdullah Ahmad Badawi," said Ahmad, regarded as a powerful Umno leader in Penang state.

Hidden agenda

Ahmad hit out at Mahathir's heightened criticisms after the failure of supposed "peace talks" which the prime minister agreed to a week ago.

"He used it (the talks) to condemn Abdullah openly and this shows that Mahathir had a hidden agenda. In actual fact, what Mahathir is doing today is not criticising Abdullah - he wants to see Abdullah quit his post," he said in a statement.

There are also calls for Mahathir to be suspended or ejected from Umno, which has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1967.

However, Umno information chief Muhd Muhammad Taib said the party was not yet ready to take disciplinary action against Mahathir because after two decades in power, he virtually held "immunity".

He noted that Malaysia's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, had also criticised Mahathir, but that he was not punished.