Malaysia greets Mahathir's news with surprise, praise

Malaysia greets Mahathir's news with surprise, praise

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur/Manila

Malaysia's media greeted official word of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed's decision to hand over power to his deputy with surprise and praise on Wednesday, lionizing the man that has ruled the country for 21 years.

Four days after Mahathir stunned the ruling party with his resignation -- an offer withdrawn after followers persuaded him to adopt a more calculated retirement -- newspapers digested the succession plan for the 76-year-old leader.

Some were still debating whether Mahathir really had put a cap on his rule and intended handing over to his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, by October next year.

"Did you really think Dr Mahathir was joking?" asked columnist Rehman Rashid in the generally government-friendly New Straits Times.

Far from causing political ripples, Rehman suggested Mahathir's resignation was more akin to a giant boulder being thrown into a pond.

And Abdullah Ahmad, Group-Editor-in-Chief of the New Straits Times Group and someone with regular access to Mahathir, confessed to having been caught cold on his departure. "I must admit now that I was wrong," he said in a commentary. "I had thought, and said so repeatedly, that the prime minister would die in office."

Malaysian newspapers are invariably favorable to the government and opposition voices were limited to party statements.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, leader of the opposition coalition and wife of the jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, issued a statement urging Abdullah to improve basic democratic freedoms and governance standards.

"In this regard, we call upon the acting prime minister to release all political prisoners including Anwar Ibrahim and take steps to abolish the Internal Security Act," she said in relation to a law allowing indefinite detention without trial.

But she struck a conciliatory note towards Mahathir. "We take this opportunity to wish the prime minister well taking leave in the run-up towards his resignation," she said.

For Mahathir's successor, choosing a new deputy would be the trick, said Abdullah Ahmad.

"He will have his hardest job when the time comes to pick his deputy. Perhaps it will be all right if hierarchy is scrupulously adhered to.

"There should be no rush. He should cross the bridge in October next year," Abdullah added of his namesake.

Utusan Malaysia, the leading Malay-language daily, chided those who had agitated for Mahathir to go but have since changed their tune.

"For the past few years, there has been no let-up in criticisms and lies leveled at Dr Mahathir as if those people wanted to see him go," it said in an editorial.

"But when Dr M dropped the bombshell, many who hated him now supported him. We hope this transition period will bring good to the nation," it said.

U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia Marie T. Huhtala said on Wednesday that U.S.-Malaysia ties, at a high after the September attacks on the United States, will not be dampened by Mahathir's decision to step down,

"Really, our interest is not tied to individual leaders. They are tied to countries and the whole government," the U.S. diplomat told reporters at a business conference in the capital.

"I don't think there will be any impact on the U.S.-Malaysia relationship," she said. "I expect it to continue being very strong, whatever changes the Malaysian government makes."

Meanwhile, in Manila, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo was "surprised" by Mahathir's decision to step down next year, but the succession should not lead to regional instability, a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday.

"As regards the continuity of leadership in Malaysia, we have no doubt that Malaysia is a very stable nation so that its stability and that of its relationship with ASEAN is not affected," Arroyo spokesman Silvestre Afable said.

Kuala Lumpur and Manila are founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.