Political uncertainty rattles Malaysia, party calls meetings

Political uncertainty rattles Malaysia, party calls meetings

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's shaken political establishment will hold emergency
meetings on Tuesday after veteran Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
shocked the nation with a resignation announcement and headed off
to Europe on holiday.

Although party leaders stated that Mahathir had agreed to
retract his resignation from his party posts he has not spoken
publicly himself, and insiders said it appeared to be only a
question of time before he goes.

The supreme council of the ruling National Front coalition is
due to convene at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. Jakarta time) on Tuesday,
immediately after a meeting of top leaders in Mahathir's United
Malays National Organization (UMNO).

The Front's secretary general Mohamed Rahmat said the council
would dicusss Mahathir's wish to resign from all his political
posts, and would issue a statement afterwards.

The prospect that the man who has led Malaysia for 21 years
could soon quit has rattled Malaysia and raised concerns of
political instability in one of Southeast Asia's most stable
states.

Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz tried to rally
jittery investors, saying Mahathir would remain in his posts, but
share prices dropped more than two percent on the Kuala Lumpur
stock exchange on Monday.

Rafidah made it clear she was as startled as anyone by
Mahathir's resignation at the annual assembly of his United
Malays National Organization (UMNO) on Saturday.

It was "unfair" for Mahathir, 76, to make the announcement
without preparing the party for it, she told a news conference.

"If we know the direction, expectations can be met and there
will be no speculations, no worries, no anxieties and no doubts,
whether in or outside the country," she said.

Mahathir, who is also finance minister, left the country
within hours of creating pandemonium with his tearful resignation
and is reportedly holidaying in Naples in Italy.

Although some opposition politicians have suggested that his
announcement was simply a ploy to rally support, party sources
and diplomats said Mahathir was expected to step down soon.

"From now to December it may be a transitional period for
(Deputy Prime Minister) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to take on the
leadership," a senior member of UMNO told AFP.

He suggested national elections, which are not due until 2004,
could be called by the end of the year to capitalize on a recent
revival of support for UMNO and to endorse Abdullah as Mahathir's
appointed successor.

This would allow Mahathir to bow out on a high note, he said.
A Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed:
"It certainly looks like the beginning of the transition, and the
change could come within months, or less."

An Asian diplomat was more cautious, saying he expected
Mahathir to lead the ruling party into the next election around
the middle of next year and then step down.

There was speculation that Mahathir had also planned to
announce his resignation as prime minister along with transition
plans, but he never got that far, choking with emotion and being
mobbed by supporters after quitting his party posts.

A weeping Mahathir was hustled from the podium into a private
room at party headquarters, where Abdullah and other top party
leaders apparently succeeded in getting him to change his mind,
at least temporarily.

Abdullah, Mahathir's chosen successor, is often called "Mr
Nice Guy" but he faces a huge task in convincing the nation that
he is up to the top job, which has been held with supreme
authority by Mahathir for 21 years.

Abdullah, 62, was appointed deputy premier in February 1999 to
replace Mahathir's charismatic former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who
was sacked and jailed in September 1998.

"If Mahathir had actually resigned, Abdullah would have been
the new prime minister. There is no dispute about it," said Lim
Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Chinese-based Democratic
Action Party (DAP).

"But the only question is whether Abdullah can uphold the
premiership with authority or whether he will be challenged from
inside UMNO," he told AFP.

Lim said if Abdullah failed to perform up to expectations, he
could be challenged by the three vice-presidents of UMNO -- Najib
Razak, Muhammad Muhammad Taib and Muhyiddin Yassin.