PM Mahathir launches election alert

PM Mahathir launches election alert

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad on Tuesday told the youth wing of his ruling party to woo
more members and listen to grassroots opinion to prepare for the
next general election.

Mahathir also told them to be prepared to take over from the
current leadership and hinted about his own retirement, saying
"20 years is a little long."

The premier, Asia's longest-serving elected leader, has been
in power since July 1981. After the November 1999 election he
said this would be his last term in office.

"I urge all UMNO youth members to go down to the field to meet
the grassroots," the premier said in a one-hour pep-talk to some
3,000 youth wing leaders of his United Malays National
Organization (UMNO).

"Each one of you must attract five new members, all of you
must register as a voter and every UMNO youth branch must set up
an operations room," the premier said.

"Apart from gathering and shouting 'Long Live the Malays',
this is practical work. It is not that romantic but it reflects
our commitment."

The gathering followed last month's divisional-level elections
which saw many new faces elected to the youth wing, officials
said.

It precedes next month's annual assembly of UMNO, which
dominates the coalition which has ruled since independence in
1957.

In November 1999 UMNO lost 22 parliamentary seats and ceded
control of a second state assembly -- partly over perceptions it
has become corrupt and partly over anger at the sacking and
jailing of Mahathir's former deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

Parliamentary elections must be held every five years but the
government can call polls earlier if it chooses.

Tuesday's Sun newspaper said UMNO had begun a campaign to
visit households supporting the opposition, hear their grievances
and work on winning their support before the next election.

The premier urged youth wing members to shun "money politics"
which he said could destroy the party.

UMNO's leadership this month suspended six local-level
officials from holding party office for six years for vote-buying
attempts and announced other moves to stamp out graft.

UMNO youth leader Hishammuddin Tun Hussein told reporters that
the wing currently has some 850,000 members and aims to have one
million before the general election.

"The message is clear that we must be in the election
mode...our activities must not just revolve around our members,
we need to get the voters to be part of our program to support
the party," he said.

Meanwhile, after almost two months of trying, Malaysian human
rights commissioners on Tuesday met some of ten anti-government
activists who are jailed under a draconian security law that
allows detention without trial.

Five senior officials from the Malaysian Human Rights
Commission were ushered into police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur
for the meeting, which was tightly controlled and off-limits to
reporters.

Commissioners left the station after about 4 1/2 hours without
speaking to reporters who were waiting outside the police
station.

Citing concerns for the detainees' well-being and human
rights, the commission began seeking access to them just days
after police on April 10 began a string of arrests of activists
linked to the opposition National Justice Party, or Keadilan.

Opposition leaders, who claim the arrests were ordered by
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government to stifle dissent,
have urged the commission to put pressure on the government to
release the ten detainees.

The commission's statement was carefully worded to describe
only Tuesday's meeting, and did not comment on the legitimacy or
otherwise of the arrests.