Razaleigh will not challenge Mahathir

Razaleigh will not challenge Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A veteran politician who almost unseated Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1987 was quoted on Thursday as saying he had no plans to contest either of the top two ruling party posts this year.

There has been intense speculation that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah may challenge Mahathir's preferred successor, Deputy Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in the party polls on May 11, or even Mahathir himself.

The polls are crucial since the president and deputy president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) are automatically premier and deputy premier.

The deputy premier post has been vacant since Anwar Ibrahim was fired and expelled from UMNO in September 1998. If Abdullah assumes the post it would confirm his status as successor to Mahathir, who says this is his last term.