Is he, or is he not, still Malaysia's prime minister? Much is still unclear after Saturday's bizarre flip-flop when Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he would quit, and retracted it an hour later.

Mahathir after 21 years in power would have very much liked to go with a big bang, and not in tears. Perhaps that was indeed his intention and Saturday's script somehow went dreadfully wrong, scuttling his plan for a grand exit.

Just before he went on to state his wish to quit, he told the 2,000-odd party delegates at the Umno general assembly that, "Umno is strong today. The young and the old who deserted Umno a few years ago have now come back to the party fold."

He could be indicating to the party's faithful that having engineered an Umno revival after the controversial sacking of his deputy-turned-nemesis, Anwar Ibrahim, it was time for him to leave. There would, of course, be a transitional period in which power would be handed over to his new deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, at a specified time.

He would be given a standing ovation for a job well done. Indeed, however unpalatable it appeared to be, party delegates could be persuaded to accept the inevitable.

But Mahathir was not given the chance to complete his hand-written speech his emotional announcement was abruptly cut short by an equally emotional outburst by other Umno leaders and delegates on hearing that he was quitting.

Perhaps his mistake was not informing anyone about his intention no one, not even his family members, knew of his plan to resign. Had key Umno leaders knew what was coming, the reaction wouldn't be so hysterical.

Nevertheless, all this is speculation. There will be more such conjectures at least for another week or so. Mahathir is not expected to be back from his 10-day break in Italy until July 3. Only then will we hear directly from him about his decision and why.

Transition of power

For Malaysians, Saturday was a day they never thought would come the resignation of the man whom many have known as the country's leader for most of their lives.

But there is indeed life without Mahathir. As in any transition of power, especially one which is so sudden, there will be a period of uncertainty.

Mahathir's anointed successor, Abdullah, will need to quickly consolidate his position within the party. He has a few rivals who are considered prime ministerial material and they will be quick to point out that Abdullah has not faced a popular contest for his second in command position in Umno. As such, his mandate as Umno leader is questionable.

A transitional period will no doubt benefit Abdullah. By virtue of being prime minister and Umno leader, he would be able to draw support from those who had previously dismissed him as a nobody.

And a good showing by him at the upcoming general election will help to forestall any possible challenges from his rivals in the party polls next year or the year after that if it was postponed to avoid bitter jockeying for party posts. But it is unclear whether Abdullah can exploit such advantages.

Still, Mahathir's intention to quit came as a bolt out of the blue.

Most believed that he has strengthened his position within the party over the past year and would continue on as leader. But the paradox is that as the party regains its political footing, Mahathir faces more internal pressure to set a time-table for his eventual departure. After all, there are enough ambitious party leaders around.

Few, however, would think that it had to come to this.