Malaysia Gets First New Leader in 22 Yrs.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's outspoken prime minister retired Friday after 22 years, leaving behind an economically transformed country - but also a legacy of autocratic rule and comments derided by some as hateful and ugly.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed handed power to his anointed successor, Abdullah Ahamad Badawi, a mild-mannered career politician who had been his deputy for the past five years
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3333100,00.html

ANOTHER ANTI SEMITE IS GONE

is strongly against Islamic fundamentalism. Let's hope Abdullah Badawi, his successor, can overwhelmingly win next year's election. The PAS, the Muslim opposition party, wants to turn Malaysia into a fundamentalist state, complete with sharia law.

I read that Dr Mahathir intends to help his successor in next year's election. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has said, and many Muslims would agree, that Dr Mahathir "should continue to contribute to the nation and the Muslim world because he has become public property." So, instead of saying he's "gone," I'd say now he can, and I think will, speak his mind without feeling restricted by his office.

The press likes to take one sentence out of a speech and hammer on it.
Whether what Dr Mahatir said is anti-semitic or not is, understandably, not of importance to Malaysians. For all his faults, Dr Mahathir has done a lot for them. I read that Malaysia's income per capita has almost quadrupled since he took office 22 years ago, and he has "fostered Malaysia's transformation into 20th-century manufacturing, and more importantly, into 21st-century information technology."