Lawrence Bartlett

Fears of terrorist attacks along the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, funnelling 50,000 vessels a year between the biggest economies of the West and the East, have prompted tighter security along the waterway.

Malaysia, already known as a maverick in international economic circles, has gone a risky step further by hurling racial insults at major investing nations as veteran Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad prepares to step down.

Premier-in-waiting Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, stepped out of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's shadow ahead of the ruling party's annual assembly tomorrow, wooing the faithful with a familiar mix of polemics and poetry.

Abdullah's ambitions at the moment are confined to a spacious office between the national religion, exemplified in an imposing mosque, and the office of a national icon, Mahathir, in Putrajaya, a new administrative capital of lakes, domes and spires a half-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur.

Sixty-three-year-old Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who will take over the leadership of the country in October, spells out in a rare interview with AFP his views o­n global and regional tensions, terrorism, Islam and the economy.

As the new NAM chair, Dr Mahathir Mohamad accuses Western leaders of being callous killers who are using the war o­n terrorism as a pretext to dominate the world.

Kings, sheikhs and presidents from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America gathered in Kuala Lumpur today in an attempt to make their voices heard in a world where the lone superpower appears headed towards war.

Senior officials of the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) are wrestling with issues such as the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter but the main agenda remains the strong opposition to a US-led war against Iraq.

The incoming chairman of the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, has taken a characteristically punchy line o­n the Iraq crisis as he assumes his last major role o­n the world stage.

Most of the countries grouped in NAM carry little clout of their own, but they hope their official voices will be heard alongside those of millions of ordinary people protesting the war around the world.

The countdown to the end of an era is ticking away with Asia's longest-serving elected leader Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's surprise announcement that he will step down in October 2003 after 22 years in power.

A small village, a religious school and relationships developed by Indonesians living in exile in Malaysia are pieces of puzzle that can explain that Bali bombing which killed more than 190 people.

The government fights on several fronts to clear its name of any taint of terrorism to preserve it's image as a safe and rapidly developing country. This includes taking legal actions against academic Rohan Gunaratna over his book which linked BN to al-Qaeda.

Westerners who are down-and-out can now find cheaper places to retire. Many Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, are offering this group a "second home" i.e. if they still have a few dimes to spare to live out the rest of their lives.