KUALA LUMPUR, June 22: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday offered and rapidly withdrew his resignation from party and ruling coalition posts, throwing the last day of his party’s annual assembly into turmoil.

Mahathir, 76, Asia’s longest-serving elected leader, was led weeping from the rostrum after announcing he was quitting all his positions in the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition and in his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party.

Within an hour of the speech, carried live on national television, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi returned to the microphone to tell an auditorium packed with UMNO faithful that the prime minister had changed his mind.

Abdullah said on television that Mahathir would have offered to quit his government posts too, but for the conference uproar. Apart from being premier, Mahathir is also finance minister.

Some opposition leaders believed it was all a carefully orchestrated charade to bolster Mahathir’s position ahead of possible early polls. It came only days after he accused ethnic Malays of being lazy and squandering their opportunities.

Delivering the closing speech at UMNO’s annual gathering, Mahathir, who has led the country for 21 years, uttered the words many Malaysians never thought they would hear.

“I would like to take this opportunity to announce my resignation from my post as UMNO president and all the posts I hold in the party, my resignation as chairman of Barisan Nasional and all posts in the Barisan Nasional,” he said.

Abdullah was immediately heard calling him to withdraw his resignation while other ministers, including International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz, gathered round the hunched, sobbing Mahathir pleading with him to think again.

“No, I have decided. I have decided,” Mahathir said, before being ushered from the hall in the Putra World Trade Centre adjoining the UMNO headquarters.

While he was led to a private room, accompanied by his wife, Abdullah and other senior UMNO leaders, crowds outside the hall chanted “Long live Mahathir” and “We want Mahathir”.

The deputy prime minister then re-emerged to tell the assembly Mahathir had been persuaded to change his mind.

“We took quite a long time. And after that, he agreed that I announce that he will continue to hold his posts,” said Abdullah, who was greeted by loud cheering.

Mahathir’s political opponents were unimpressed by the drama.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, leader of the opposition front and wife of jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, told Reuters:

“It does seem like a calculated move to show the nation that he is still needed within UMNO.”

Wan Azizah, who leads Parti Keadilan Nasional, said events showed there were strong doubts about who would succeed Mahathir, despite his repeated assertions that it would be Abdullah.

Mahathir has often sown confusion over his political motives, playing off pretenders to his position within the party, and factions within his multi-ethnic coalition and the opposition.—Reuters