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Ex-Malaysian PM backs challenger

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday backed an ex-finance minister's bid to challenge the prime minister after the ruling coalition's recent poll losses.

Senior lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had said he would challenge Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) leadership if he received enough support.

UMNO is the leader of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which was humbled in the March 8 polls, and the party's leader traditionally takes the job of prime minister.

"Tengku Razaleigh may be one of them [to contest against Abdullah]. A challenge [for the top post] is healthy," Mahathir said. "I don't think UMNO is so poor in talent."

UMNO is scheduled to hold a party leadership election in December. Members of the party and former leaders including Mahathir have called on Abdullah to resign.

But Mahathir said it would be difficult for anyone to challenge Abdullah because of a requirement to secure 58 nominations from the 191 UMNO divisions.

"I think it should be abolished because of the tendency of the people in power to stifle any move to challenge them," he said.

Mahathir said Tengku Razaleigh failed to win sufficient nominations in 2004 for the top post because UMNO divisions were warned against nominating him.

"He [Tengku Razaleigh] only got one nomination because other divisions were told not to nominate him," he said.

Abdullah has claimed a mandate to rule despite the unprecedented election losses, but observers say he is on borrowed time as calls for his resignation persist.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has refused calls to free a Hindu rights activist who was jailed last year under an internal security law, even though he was elected this month to parliament in a show of voter anger at his imprisonment.

Lawyer M. Manoharan was one of five Hindu activists detained without charge after they organized an anti-government protest by more than 10,000 ethnic Indians in November. An opposition party later nominated Manoharan for the March 8 poll, which saw a huge protest vote by Malaysia's Indian minority.

"We cannot simply react to political parties' calls," Malaysian Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying by the Star yesterday, when asked if the government would free Manoharan so he could represent his electorate.

He said the government could only reconsider the case if the five activists were no longer deemed security threats.

"We have to give priority to public safety and peace and will give due consideration only if there is no threat to national security," Syed Hamid said.

Under Malaysia's colonial-era Internal Security Act, the government can order someone's indefinite detention, without charge. Human rights and lawyer groups say the law has been abused at times over many years to lock up political opponents.

Manoharan was elected as a candidate for the Democratic Action Party, which is fighting for his release. An appeal court is due to rule on his case on April 2, but his wife, Pushpaneela, 46, who ran his election campaign while he was behind bars, wants the government to release him before then.
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