MALAYSIAN prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, the country's leader for the past 21 years, will step down late next year in favor of deputy prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his ruling party announced Tuesday.

　　Mahathir, 76, tearfully resigned on live television Saturday but agreed to stay on at the behest of his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) to ensure an orderly transition of power to Abdullah.

　　UMNO secretary general Khalil Yaakob said that the party's leadership had accepted Mahathir's deferred resignation and that Abdullah would take over after the prime minister hosts a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in October 2003.

　　Mahathir, who broke down in tears while trying to resign Saturday at a party conference, told his family and colleagues he had wanted to leave while the country, the economy and the party were back on a sound footing following the financial and political crisis in the late 1990s.

　　But the extraordinary sequence of events over the past few days had led to speculation he was exhausted by top level UMNO in fighting and Abdullah's succession was not secured, analysts said.

　　During the transitional period until the OIC Summit, Mahathir would continue to hold all his posts in UMNO, the ruling party coalition National Front and the government, including the post of finance minister. However, during Mahathir's absence in the office, Abdullah will be appointed as acting UMNO president and acting prime minister.

　　Mahathir was quoted as saying the date for his resignation was decided upon to ensure a smooth and orderly transition of power and responsibilities.

　　Mahathir has reportedly stated that after his resignation from all posts in UMNO and the government, he would continue to contribute his energy and ideas for the benefit of the party. Mahathir also wanted all UMNO members to continue to work together and strengthen the party to ensure UMNO's success in its struggle.

　　Mahathir is now on a one-week vacation in Italy and is expected to return home on July 3.

　　Mahathir, a champion of developing countries and a strong moderate voice in Muslim world, will chair the Non-Aligned Movement summit in February before capping his reign by hosting the OIC summit in October in Putrajaya -- the administrative capital he built as the 1997-1998 Asian crisis raged.

　　Mahathir Mohahmad is no stranger to controversy. Born December 20, 1925 in Alor Setar, Kedah, the young Mahathir joined the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) at its foundation in 1946, and courted attention by writing provocative articles on the monarchy and the emancipation of women.

　　He qualified in medicine at the University of Malaya, then located in Singapore, and has always preferred Dr. to honorifics -- such as Tan Sri Datuk -- that precede many Malaysian names.

　　He set up private practice in his home town in 1957, a year after he married his wife, Hasmah, also a physician. They have two daughters and three sons.

　　Mahathir entered active politics in 1964 as a Member of Parliament for UMNO. He lost his seat in 1969 and was expelled from the party after attacking the prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, in an open letter, for neglecting the indigenous Malay community.

　　In the political wilderness, he developed his ideas in a controversial book entitled "The Malay Dilemma." Its thesis was that the Malays have been marginalized during the colonial era; the book castigated them for apathetically accepting their second class lot. It set the tone for future attacks on the West and others who he perceives as bent on subjugating Malaysia and threatening its success.

　　Mahathir's nationalist credentials had been forged. His book struck such a chord with younger UMNO leaders that he was invited back into the party, re-elected to parliament in 1974, and appointed minister of education. Within four years he was deputy leader of the party, and in 1981, became prime minister.

　　On assuming high office, Mahathir set about putting his ideas into practice and transforming Malaysia from an exporter of rubber and tin, into an Asian tiger producing electronic equipment, steel and cars.

　　In addition, he has taken on the mantle of spokesman for the New Asia, upholding Asian and Malaysian values, criticizing Western double standards and winning following leaders among non-Western and developing countries.

　　Mahathir has created a Malay middle class, and even billionaires, through government patronage as well as policies of positive discrimination in employment and higher education. More visible projects to boost his people's sense of pride have included the world's tallest building and the "Multimedia Super Corridor" intended to rival California's Silicon Valley.

　　(SD-Agencies)