The conflict that is brewing between former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his successor Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi goes much more deeper than the four issues that the former has raised for the attention of the government.

Essentially, the conflict represents an intra-Malay/Umno conflict over the access to resources, business opportunities and power. In other words, a purely political approach would not be able to decipher the nature and the dimension of the present conflict.

A political economy approach showing the subtle linkages between politics and economics would be a more appropriate approach.