Finance Chief's Departure Gives Mahathir a Freer Hand on Policy 
International Herald Tribune
June 4, 2001
Thomas Fuller

The resignation of Daim Zainuddin, widely considered to be the second most powerful politician in Malaysia, has given Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad more direct control over both the running of the government and the finances of his party, political analysts said Sunday.

Mr. Daim, whose departure from his post as finance minister was announced Saturday, was considered one of the few men who could challenge Mr. Mahathir on policy issues. The two men worked closely for more than a decade but reportedly had quarreled recently over economic matters.

Local newspapers said Mr. Daim also had quit his other government posts.

Significantly, party officials said Mr. Daim would leave his powerful position as treasurer of Mr. Mahathir's party, a job he has held since the late 1980s.

"It's a complete break," said Shahrir Samad, a member of the governing party's supreme council. "Mahathir's inner circle has been broken up. He will have to reconstitute a new team."

The prime minister, who announced the resignation, provided few clues about why Mr. Daim had left, saying only that the former finance minister had been wanting to leave for many months.

"Nobody knows the real reasons," Mr. Shahrir said.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the Democratic Action Party, the second largest opposition party, said Mr. Daim's departure from the government removed political "baggage" from the governing party.

Several of Mr. Daim's corporate protégés have received government money to help bail their companies out, including the former chairman of Malaysia Airlines, the national carrier, and a telecommunications tycoon.

Mr. Mahathir has now been given a freer hand, Mr. Lim said. "This is about how he is going to salvage his entire legacy," he said. "He may be prepared to be more adventurous or he may be prepared to be more repressive."

As part of a continuing crackdown on dissents, government officials confirmed Sunday that the deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had signed a detention order for four opposition figures. The renewable order allows the government to continue to hold the men for two years without trial.

Khairy Jamaluddin, special officer to the deputy prime minister, told Agence France-Presse that the four men were: Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Noor, Tian Chua and Saari Sungib — all officials in the National Justice Party — and Hishamuddin Rais, a social activist.

He declined to say whether any of the seven other opposition figures being held without trial had similar orders signed.

On Saturday, the government released Raja Petra Kamaruddin, director of a campaign to free the former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving 15 years in prison for sodomy and abuse of power.

Mr. Mahathir said Saturday that his government would be firm in dealing with demonstrators and others who protested the decisions. "The government will not bow to pressure from any group and will take whatever action is necessary and appropriate to defend the right of the majority of the people to live in peace and prosperity," he said.

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