Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad begins a high-profile and drawn-out farewell from the international stage after 22 eventful years with a starring role at the Asean summit in Bali next week.

Asia's longest-serving elected leader then hosts the summit of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) from Oct 16-18 and goes on to Bangkok for his swansong at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit on Oct 20-21 before retiring on Oct 31.

Mahathir can be relied upon to go out the way he came in more than two decades ago - shooting from the lip in a controversial style which has seen this small Southeast Asian nation punch well above above its weight internationally.

"The first impact he made was getting the voice of developing nations heard," said K Kesavapany, director of the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asia Studies.

"He is an eloquent advocate of the views of the South."

Those views, as enunciated repeatedly by Mahathir, are that developed Western nations are greedy bullies who cynically manipulate the developing world for their own economic and political benefit.

Pragmatic policy

But while the Malaysian prime minister has regularly outraged the West with his rhetoric, his foreign policy has been pragmatic enough to allow Malaysia to enjoy rapid economic growth under his stewardship.

He will likely use his last three summits for final charges on his favourite hobby horses: at Asean, the need for an East Asian economic grouping; at the OIC, the need for Muslims to strengthen their military power; at Apec, the need for the West to change its evil ways.

There will, however, be differences in approach.

In Asean (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) "Malaysia has been a consensus player," said Kesavapany.

"Although there may be some differences on some issues, on the whole Malaysia under Mahathir has promoted Asean cooperation."

Islamic values

One of the most sensitive issues at the Bali summit will be the position of Burma, which has embarrassed fellow member states by again detaining democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mahathir played a key role in bringing Burma's military junta into Asean in 1997 over the protests of the West and, despite the Asean tradition of non-interference in members' domestic affairs, has made clear his unhappiness with the generals' latest crackdown

He told AFP in an interview in July that Burma might have to be expelled from the organisation, but emphasised that this would only be considered as a last resort.

At the OIC summit, the first since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Mahathir will tackle head on what he sees as the weaknesses of the Islamic world which has left it at the mercy of more powerful Western nations.

He regularly chides Muslims in his own country and abroad for not paying as much attention to scientific and technological issues as they do to the study of religion.

Mahathir told an international Islamic conference in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month that Muslims must acquire skills and technology so they can create modern weapons and "strike fear into the hearts of our enemies".

Muslims must catch up with Western development to "prevent Islam from being humiliated, looked down upon and regarded as a religion of terrorists," he said.

Lecturing Bush

At the APEC summit, which will be attended by US President George W Bush, Mahathir can be expected to berate Washington on a multitude of issues from globalisation to invading Iraq without the consent of the United Nations.

The 77-year-old leader will probably feel entitled to lecture Bush as an elder statesman, on the grounds that Bush's father came and went as US president somewhere in the middle of Mahathir's own 22 year career as prime minister.

"He was prepared to go against all conventional wisdom and where it was necessary to state his views, he stated his views," said Kesavapany.

"In this sense, he stood out. He did it his way."

This is a reference to the fact that Mahathir's favourite song is reportedly the Frank Sinatra classic "My Way". It will no doubt do as the title of his swansong too. - AFP