KUALA LUMPUR, September 21 (IslamOnline.net) - Malaysia’s ruling coalition the National Front (NF) has set the stage for a quick and surprising election campaign in a bid to stun its opponents, particularly the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), and to retain power for another 5 years, experts told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, September 21.

Sources within the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) told IOL that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will dissolve the Parliament while he is still in power but will immediately hand over the reigns to his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before resigning at the end of October 2003.

Polls would be held two weeks after the dissolution of the Parliament, political rallies - banned during the 1995 and 1999 elections - would be allowed to compensate for the short period of campaigning, Sani Bahruzaman, a political observer and member of the UMNO told IOL.

President Mahathir's speech on Saturday, September 20, calling supporters of the NF to give the government a strong mandate was indicative that national polls were not too far away.

Mahathir, who is also the head of the UMNO, also said the coalition government in power needs a powerful mandate from the people for the welfare of the Malaysian people.

"At the end of October, I will relinquish the post happily because there is a successor. There is no power struggle among us. We are a group of government with joint responsibilities and believe in the policies of the NF," said Mahathir.

"That's why when Abdullah takes over, he openly pledges to continue with the NF struggle," he added.

Badawi will lead the NF to battle in what observers say will be the toughest election in Malaysia’s history. He will also lead the UMNO, which was instrumental to the independence of Malaysia since its creation in the 1940’s.

"The deputy premier is also expected to seek a fresh mandate to become Prime Minister in order to quell any disputes within the NF and to prevent any struggle for power within the UMNO," Bahruzaman said.

"Mahathir’s role will be to run the electoral machinery of the NF to ensure that the ruling coalition wins a two third majority for another 5 years term in power," he added.

Mahathir, for his part, reassured his people of Badawi's commitment to the ruling coalition’s cause.

Mahathir said the NF was unique in that it was a merger of many political parties which was easily managed and even when there were component parties withdrawing from the coalition, the NF could still continue to rule the country.

"In Malaysia, it is not a marriage of convenience after the general election but it had started very much earlier. Since 1952, we have maintained the cooperation even when there was no general election," he said.

'Copycat Party'

Attacking the opponents of the NF, Mahathir said the opposition too wanted to emulate the NF's party coalition concept by calling themselves the "alternative front."

"This is a copycat party, a synthetic party. They form a coalition for the purpose of cheating," he said, adding that it would be unfortunate if the people were to support the opposition party because they did not bring any progress unlike the NF.

He said that people could compare between the states ruled by the opposition which were still bogged down by problems of poverty and the states under the NF which were more developed.

"This was the mistake made by the people who chose the opposition," he said.

Citing the unwillingness of PAS to explain the concept of Islamic state that it wanted to adopt, he said it showed that the party was not sincere to the people, especially the non-Muslims, and that they only wanted to ‘cheat’ people.

"In the NF, we not only have the Muslims and non-Muslims, but when we declare Malaysia as an Islamic country, they (the non-Muslims) support us because they know we practice the true teachings of Islam and did not take away their (religious) freedom," he said.

Asked on Badawi's capability to lead the NF to face the next general election, Mahathir said his successor had proven that the NF could achieve victory even without his direct support.

"I think Abdullah can...even in the past, he played a major role in the election. In fact, I didn't have to go to the ground. I left it to him," said the ageing Premier.

"I will campaign though not as a candidate. I will campaign because I do not forget. Many people had campaigned for me that I was able to become a Prime Minister," he added.

The NF comprises of the 14 component parties, including the UMNO, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), Malaysian Peoples Movement (Gerakan), and a host of smaller parties representing different races in the country.

The NF celebrated its 50^th anniversary on Saturday under the theme of "Power Sharing behind Malaysia's Success" attended by about 50,000 people of various races who are members or supporters of the NF.