(AFP) Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad marked 20 years in power Monday, saying he had no time to regret his mistakes and declining to set a retirement date.

The 75-year-old premier, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, also dismissed the latest protest yesterday against his authoritarian rule.

Mahathir, who in 1993 even moved the national anthem into a faster tempo, displayed his legendary stamina as he attended one meeting after another.

The premier held an early meeting with members of parliament from his ruling coalition. They surprised him with a rice cake topped with 20 miniature Malaysian flags.

Anniversary cake

Mahathir went on to launch an electricity supply conference. Organisers presented him a chocolate cake bearing the message: "Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary as our beloved prime minister."

The premier's office at Putrajaya, his purpose-built administrative capital south of Kuala Lumpur, was filled with flowers from well-wishers.

Mahathir will head to the southern state of Malacca for a dinner this evening due to be attended by more than 25,000 people.

"I have not much time to think about regrets," Mahathir told a press conference.

"I may have made some mistakes but I can't regret the decisions that I have made, although they may be very unpopular and caused me to lose support," he said.

"But I believe I did these things for the good of the country, not for my own good because I am going anyway. I can't stay forever."

Mahathir has fostered a sense of national identity in multiracial Malaysia and given it a global voice as a champion of the developing world.

Favourite song

He pressed on with the transformation of a commodities-based economy into a manufacturing centre and presided over years of dramatic economic growth and infrastructure development.

Critics say the premier - whose favourite song is "I Did It My Way" - has also bent independent national institutions to his iron will, sought to stifle voices of dissent and tolerated cronyism.

The premier cited "stability and relative racial harmony" as his greatest achievement.

"In Malaysia we still live together, work together, play together. We still have our differences but we settle our differences across the table," he said.

"I hope Malaysia will continue to be stable and able to grow rapidly. I also hope Malaysia will continue to be free and not controlled by any parties except for Malaysians."

Asked how he felt about his 20th anniversary, he jokingly said: "Don't know. If you don't remind me, I would have forgotten."

He added: "I hope I will be able to retire as soon as I am allowed to retire. At the moment, I am not supposed to even mention it because it has a very bad effect on the market.

"Maybe share prices might go up if I retire, I don't know. They said it may go down."

ISA protest dismissed

On what he hoped to accomplish in the coming years, Mahathir said: "Not much more. I think enough-lah!"

The premier said Malaysia would not enter a recession again this year as it has a more diversified economic base than neighbouring Singapore.

Mahathir also dismissed a protest yesterday against the draconian Internal Security Act outside a northern detention camp where six opposition supporters are being held without trial.

Riot police used water cannon to disperse some 500 protesters. At least 31 people were arrested.

"This is the new culture that you have to protest against everything, so you can expect these things to happen all over the world," he said.

"I am told that some 100,000 people will be protesting the G7 meeting in Italy... in Malaysia, maybe 30 people, 100 people protest. It's a small thing. I don't see why people should be worried about these things."

Protests against Mahathir's rule have mounted since the sacking and jailing of his popular deputy Anwar Ibrahim in 1998.

Mahathir said local universities were turning into "centres of agitation."

He said the government may tighten the Universities and University Colleges Act, which has provisions to curtail students' political actions.