Tense M'sia braces for news of when Mahathir will quit

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Ruling party Umno is expected to announce an orderly transition of power from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today, insiders said.

While a tense nation awaited a live broadcast by Abdullah, the confusion in the wake of Mahathir's shock resignation and retraction at the weekend was reflected by senior sources within the ruling party.

They were unanimous that Mahathir would quit as prime minister, but could not agree when, predicting variously that it could be within a few months or late next year.

One well-placed source told AFP Mahathir would stay on to host two international summits here next year - the Non-Aligned Movement in February and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in October.

He said Mahathir would then step down and Abdullah would lead Umno and its coalition partners into a general election by the end of the year.

Mahathir had planned to make this announcement at the Umno assembly on Saturday but was unable to complete his statement when he was mobbed by delegates after saying he was quitting his party posts, the source said.

But another top official in a party shaken to its foundations by Mahathir's unexpected announcement suggested he would quit within months and elections would be held by the end of this year.

Abdullah was due to clarify the situation in a live television address after a meeting of the supreme council of Umno beginning at 4pm.

Teary announcement

On Saturday, Abdullah announced after ushering a weeping Mahathir from the podium at the Umno assembly that the prime minister had agreed to stay on after party officials begged him to retract his resignation.

But Mahathir himself has said nothing, heading off on holiday to Italy the day after throwing his country into political turmoil.

Malaysia's stock market slid two percent yesterday and dropped another 1.55 percent within an hour of opening today, but later clawed back some of its losses.

Mahathir is also the finance minister, and is credited with having dragged Malaysia out of its position as a sleepy backwater into becoming one of Asia's economic powerhouses.

Abdullah is Mahathir's chosen successor, but he faces a huge task in convincing the nation that he is up to a job which has been held with supreme authority by Mahathir for two decades, and analysts say he could be challenged by other party leaders.

Abdullah, 62, was appointed deputy premier in February 1999 to replace Mahathir's charismatic former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who was sacked and jailed in September 1998.

Elections are not due until late 2004, but there had been speculation even before his resignation announcement that Mahathir could call an early vote to capitalise on the perceived loss of support for the main opposition PAS.

Resurge in popularity

Mahathir has deftly used fears of Islamic militancy against PAS in the wake of the Sept 11 terror attacks on the United States, and Umno has seen a resurgence in popularity.

PAS holds 27 of Malaysia's 193 federal parliament seats and controls two states - Kelantan and Terengganu - out of a total of 13.

Mahathir's Umno, the dominant member in the ruling National Front coalition, has governed Malaysia since independence in 1957.



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