(AFP) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad today denied there was any rift between him and Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, who is taking two months' leave.

"I just fought with him. That's why he came (to parliament) to listen to my voice," Mahathir jokingly told reporters at parliament house.

"I don't know why he should come because he is on holiday."

Asked if former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is to make a political comeback, Mahathir said this was merely speculation.

Separately Daim, when asked by journalists in parliament if he is resigning, said: "I'm on leave ... Am I not entitled to leave (holiday)?"

The disclosure last Thursday that Daim is taking extended leave fuelled renewed speculation of a rift between the two once close allies.

Mahathir said Daim was not planning to quit as finance minister and was still going into his office. But he would not attend cabinet meetings or Umno (ruling party) supreme council meetings during the period.

Second most powerful man

Daim, widely considered Malaysia's second most powerful man after Mahathir, has often said he wants to quit politics. He was finance minister from 1984 until 1991.

Daim was brought back into the cabinet in June 1998 as special functions minister to promote economic recovery amid the Asian financial crisis.

He was appointed finance minister in January 1999 following the sacking the previous year of Anwar Ibrahim.

Razaleigh almost unseated Mahathir in 1987 in elections for the presidency of the United Malays National Organisation and then left to form an opposition party.

Its members returned to the ruling party fold in 1996.

Razaleigh raised eyebrows earlier this month with comments urging Mahathir not to retire and saying Malaysia still needs his firm leadership.

He told reporters his call was sincere and it was not in his nature to suck up to the premier.

No credit from foreign media

Meanwhile, Daim said Malaysia has taken steps to improve the way its companies are run but has received no credit from the foreign media.

He said the government is serious in wanting to protect the interests of minority shareholders and has enacted laws to promote checks and balances.

The minister, in a speech at a corporate governance conference, said the government had responded to market "clamour" for the segregation of the chairman and chief executive positions in government-owned companies to curb executive domination of decision-making.

"The segregation has been introduced at government-owned companies, which initially exposed us to scathing attacks," Daim said, citing a newspaper report that alleged changes introduced at state power firm Tenaga Nasional, were an attempt by Daim to install his so-called "cronies."

Last September the government appointed Jamaludin Jarjis as non-executive chairman of Tenaga Nasional and separated the post from that of the chief executive.

"Governments are not supposed to vent our frustrations. We (are) expected to be stoic and duly absorb the punishment," Daim said, adding that Malaysia has practised the principles of corporate governance.