From Hong Kong Standard
28th January 2000

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has sought to quash rumours that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fell ill while on holiday, but the opposition said the ``ham-fisted'' denials only stirred more market-moving speculation.

Rumours that the 74-year-old leader had fallen off a horse or collapsed during a holiday in Latin America drove down share prices on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The market rebounded early yesterday after Dr Mahathir's deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi vehemently dismissed the rumours, calling them ``outright lies''. Prices later fell back.

The Malaysian High Commission in London later said Dr Mahathir was in good health hours after he arrived for a private visit.

The rumours underscored lingering jitters over the question of a successor for Asia's longest-serving elected leader, who had a heart bypass operation in 1989 but keeps a gruelling schedule.

Dr Mahathir, who has been in power since 1981, left Malaysia's capital on 12 January for a two-week holiday in Argentina and the Caribbean. He has not been seen in public since, and local media, ordinarily full of comments by the outspoken leader, have carried no pictures or quotes.

Public curiosity about Dr Mahathir's health was aroused last week when it was learned that he had cancelled plans to attend the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

A spokesman for the forum's organisers said yesterday that Dr Mahathir had cited ``problems at home''.

There have been reports that Dr Mahathir objected to appearing with some of the other participants at the Davos forum.

There were also reports that Dr Mahathir had fallen off a horse while on holiday in Argentina. But local media later said it was a security officer with Dr Mahathir who had fallen.

Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin said: ``The PM is fine, he is enjoying his holiday. I'm in touch with him.''

Mr Abdullah, who on paper would succeed Dr Mahathir if he quit or was unable to carry out his duties, lashed out at rumour-mongers, calling them unpatriotic, and urged citizens not to believe speculation.

``If there is no official statement, it means that it is not true. That's the formula to know whether something is true or not,'' he said.

But Mr Abdullah said he had not spoken to Dr Mahathir, prompting former opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, national chairman of the Democratic Action Party, to question whether Dr Mahathir was really closer to Mr Daim than to his deputy.

``Daim's intervention raised a very big question as to Abdullah's real influence with Mahathir,'' Mr Lim said.

``Daim said that he was in touch with the prime minister all the time while the deputy prime minister _ the person earmarked to succeed him _ had not spoken to Mahathir since the prime minister went on leave,'' Mr Lim said.

Dr Mahathir has said Mr Abdullah would ordinarily succeed him. But opposition politicians note that the prime minister has had three previous deputies, including jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim, who have fallen out of favour. - Reuters