One year after Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad confounded the nation with an emotional resignation, he presides this week over his last annual party conference.

Tributes to his 22-year leadership will hide burgeoning infighting for power within his United Malays National Organisation (Umno), party sources say.

"Delegates will praise Mahathir for his sacrifices. But one must understand these sentiments are not aimed at persuading him to stay on," a senior Umno member told AFP .

"A lot of bickering is going on," ahead of the scheduled takeover in October by Mahathir's Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and elections due by the end of next year, he said.

New team

The jostling for position does not threaten Abdullah, analysts say, but focuses on the new team he will bring to a country dominated for so long by Mahathir, who is credited with dragging the country from the economic backwaters into the mainstream of Asian development.

Abdullah has warned party members to stop the infighting for selection as candidates in elections, which could be called as early as the end of this year if Umno feels the time is right.

"Party members should work as a team and bickering should stop at once," he was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper Saturday.

Umno was due to hold elections for party officials at this year's conference, but postponed them in a move insiders say is designed to reduce squabbling and ensure a smooth transition of power ahead of a possible early election.

The party is still trying to recover from the shock of the last Umno conference a year ago this month when Mahathir, 77, stunned the nation by announcing his resignation.

Amid chaotic scenes of protest, he burst into tears and later agreed to stay on for a year.

New No 2

National University of Malaysia political scientist P. Ramasamy said this year's meeting would centre on Mahathir's plan to step down and on who would be Abdullah's deputy.

Defence Minister Najib Razak, a senior Umno vice-president, is eying the post, and has already received a public nod from Mahathir, although the premier says it is not his decision to make.

Mahathir has said he will step completely off the national political stage and will not play the role of senior statesman adopted by former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in neighbouring Singapore. But analysts say it is difficult to believe he will not still wield influence behind the scenes.

Ramasamy said he does not expect any suprises at this conference, which will be attended by some 2,000 delegates from June 17-21, although there has been constant speculation that Mahathir would not carry out his decision to quit.

"If I renege on my promise (to step down in October), my leadership will no longer be credible," the veteran prime minister has said.

"We take for granted that Mahathir will resign in October. The meeting will be a tame affair with the focus on Mahathir and his contributions to the party and country," Ramasamy said.

PAS challenge

Umno has been the dominant party of the ruling National Front coalition in this former British colony since 1957.

Its greatest challenge in the next elections is expected to come from the hardline Islamic Party (PAS), which made inroads into its power at the last polls in 1999 and rules two of the country's 13 states.

But with large non-Muslim minorities among Malaysia's 23 million people, ethnic Chinese, who make up more than a quarter of the population, hold the balance of power in the traditional coalition politics and have been scared off an opposition alliance with PAS by its desire to create a theocratic Islamic state. - AFP