Opposition plans dirty tricks campaign: Mahathir

Opposition plans dirty tricks campaign: Mahathir

JOHOR BARU, Malaysia (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, buoyed by pre-election praise from the visiting Chinese premier and soaring economic growth figures, accused on Wednesday a "desperate" opposition of planning a dirty tricks campaign.

During an earlier campaign stop the premier lashed out at his longstanding betes noires, the foreign press, while the powerful youth wing of his ruling party accused foreign embassies of funding the opposition.

"They (opposition) are so desperate to win that they would resort to spreading rumors and blatantly lying to win votes," the 73-year-old premier said in the southern state of Johor.

He said the Alternative Front planned to issue leaflets contrary to Islamic teachings and claim they were the work of the ruling party.

"They even spread rumors that I was dead when I went to hospital for treatment (earlier this year). That is how low they can go."

Mahathir said the ruling National Front coalition was confident of winning the Nov. 29 polls with an even larger parliamentary majority than its current four-fifths.

After 18 years in power Mahathir is expected to face a tougher fight than usual after the sacking and jailing of his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

He also lashed out at the Islamic rulers of Kelantan state, which he is scheduled to visit on Thursday. The area is part of the northern ethnic Malay heartland, a key battleground after Anwar's treatment split the ethnic Malay vote.

Mahathir said Kelantan, after nine years of rule by the Parti Islam SeMalaysia, was now the poorest state in the country, and that its talented people had to seek work elsewhere "just like the Bangladeshis."

Earlier on Wednesday in Sarawak state, Mahathir said the opposition had branded the polls "unfair and corruptible."

"They know they will lose and that is the reason they say: 'The election is unfair and that's why we lose... it is not because we are unpopular but the government cheats. "They have already prepared the reason for their defeat."

Postal voting began on Wednesday for more than 235,000 police and soldiers, a process the opposition says can be swayed by superior officers.

Mahathir also called the foreign media "friends" of the opposition alliance. "Their friends from CNN, CNBC and the BBC are already saying that the election will be the most corrupted.

These foreign media support the (opposition) who receive no support from Malaysians themselves," he said.

Mahathir said his National Front did not need foreign assistance. "They (foreigners) hate the Malaysian government and they hate me also because we don't bow to them... We don't ask the help of the IMF when our economy goes down. Instead, we use our own mind to implement our currency control (in September 1998) and to subsequently revive our economy."

Visiting Chinese premier Zhu Rongji gave the policies his blessing in a speech on Wednesday, saying they hastened economic recovery.

Zhu told a lunch meeting the foreign media had been severely critical of these policies but "I said to Mahathir that his policy was correct."

Opposition parties accuse Mahathir of timing the poll to use Zhu's visit to woo ethnic Chinese voters.

Malaysia's central bank reported on Wednesday third-quarter economic growth of more than eight percent year-on-year, which it attributed largely to stability created by the capital controls.

The powerful youth wing of Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the leading party in the National Front, also accused foreign embassies of funding opposition parties.

Abdul Azim Zabidi, a senior UMNO youth official, told the Utusan Malaysia newspaper that diplomats were meeting politicians and attending press conferences by opposition leaders and Mahathir rallies.

He urged the government to investigate and named the U.S. embassy and the high commissions of Canada, Australia and Britain.

"The parties which are willing to accept assistance or bribes such as this are traitors to this country and its people. They should be punished heavily because they want to sell the country," he added.

All the missions denied funding either side, and said attending election events was part of normal diplomatic practice.