Malaysia's Mahathir quits ruling party

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad quit the ruling party UMNO on Monday in a move observers said could help unseat the embattled government of his successor Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mahathir said he was resigning in protest over Abdullah's refusal to step down after March elections that produced the worst results in the history of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

"I declare today that I am leaving UMNO," he said to deafening cheers from some 1,000 political supporters in his home state of Kedah. Mahathir urged other party members to follow his lead, in a call analysts said could herald a mass exodus that could potentially split the party and topple the government.

"One way is for us to leave the party in large numbers. This doesn't mean that we should join the opposition. This is the only power that we have in our hands," the 82-year-old political veteran said.

Mahathir ruled Malaysia for 22 years until 2003, when he picked Abdullah as his successor. Within months, the two had fallen out and Mahathir began accusing him of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement.

Since the March elections, which saw the UMNO-led coalition lose five states and a third of parliamentary seats to the opposition, he has actively campaigned for Abdullah to step down but the premier has refused to budge.

Abdullah said he was shocked by Mahathir's decision, which would "weaken the party to an extent," but again defiantly ruled out stepping down.

"Why should I? I have a lot of work to do," he told reporters.

The premier said that although he expected there would be more resignations from party members, he did not expect any UMNO lawmakers to heed Mahathir's call. "The important thing is that UMNO has to remain calm and understand that its members have to be loyal to the party and be strong and continue to carry out the struggle," he said.

In an apparently related development, the Star newspaper's website said another party elder, Sanusi Junid, who is a Mahathir loyalist and a former chief minister of Kedah, had also left the party.

Shahrir Samad, a cabinet minister and senior UMNO member, said Mahathir's surprise move could trigger a flurry of resignations from the troubled party that could force Abdullah to hold fresh general elections.

"By Tun doing this it could cause a situation where many other UMNO lawmakers might resign," Shahrir said, using Mahathir's honorific title.

"If this happens then the government has no choice but to form a new government or call a fresh general election," Shahrir, the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, told AFP.

"Certainly it is not helpful or constructive to the struggle of UMNO right now," he said, as the party fends off a challenge from opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim, who says he could soon seize power with the help of defectors.

UMNO-watcher Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, a political analyst from the National University of Malaysia, said the resignation was a body blow to Abdullah's chances of clinging on to power.

"Mahathir has just pulled the carpet under his feet because when he leaves UMNO I believe many more will follow, especially the elder members of UMNO," he said. Shamsul said Abdullah was discredited within his party, and protected from ouster only by tight rules for posing a challenge, which Mahathir himself introduced.

"Within UMNO he has no control at all. He's a bit like a horse that has lost its rider," he said.

Mahathir's departure would also make it easier for coalition lawmakers to defect to Anwar, he said, adding it was increasingly likely that fresh elections would need to be called to resolve the mess.

Mahathir joined UMNO at its inception in 1946 and has since then weathered a number of storms, including his expulsion in 1969, and a 1988 crisis when the party was declared illegal.