Malaysia's influential former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad quit the ruling party Monday after a long feud with his successor, deepening the cracks that appeared after the party's recent massive electoral losses.
In a speech to about 1,000 people, Mahathir said his decision to leave the United Malays National Organization party was prompted by his lack of confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Mahathir also urged other UMNO members and Cabinet members to quit.
"I am quitting UMNO today. I will only come back when there is a leadership change," Mahathir said. "We can return to UMNO" when Abdullah steps down, he said in the speech in his home state of Kedah.
Mahathir's son Mokhzani confirmed the contents of the speech to The Associated Press.
The surprise decision is expected to intensify the crisis for Abdullah who is facing calls from many of his own party members to resign to take responsibility for the party's losses in the March 8 general elections.
Abdullah said he is not stepping down. "Why should I? I have work to do," he told reporters.
Abdullah's main worry is that Mahathir's call could trigger large-scale desertions, which could split the party - one that has been in power since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957. It could also eventually bring down the government if enough UMNO lawmakers quit in Parliament.
Abdullah said he does not believe that will happen, but urged UMNO members to remain faithful. "If they want to abandon the party it's their choice. But I do not believe they will do that.
"The ruling National Front coalition, which is dominated by UMNO, is already threatened by the three-party opposition alliance led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The opposition won an unprecedented 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament in the March elections, and Anwar claims he has the tacit support of 30 National Front lawmakers to bring down the government. He says he will make his move before mid-September.
Mahathir, 82, led the country and UMNO for 22 years until 2003 when he handed over power to Abdullah. But within a year, he became Abdullah's biggest critic, stepping up his barbs after the election that handed UMNO its worst result ever.
However, he had given no indication that he would quit the party. Instead, he had been urging party members to rebel against the prime minister, and is believed to wield considerable influence among the party's grass-roots.
"I was surprised. I did not expect he would take such an action," Abdullah said.
Mahathir accuses Abdullah of nepotism, corruption and inefficiency. Party insiders say Mahathir is upset because many big infrastructure projects he had initiated were canceled by Abdullah.
Some of the allegations of economic mismanagement resonated with Malaysians who were being buffeted by increasing inflation, however. Also, Abdullah's promise to fight corruption had shown few results.
James Chin, a political science professor at Monash university in Malaysia, said, "Mahathir realizes he cannot fight (Abdullah) within the party. The only way is to resign and hopefully force mass resignations from UMNO.
"Cabinet ministers rallied around Abdullah after Mahathir dropped the bombshell.
"We entered UMNO not because of Dr. Mahathir. So today he cannot ask us to leave UMNO," said Khaled Nordin, the higher education minister.
Another Cabinet minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said Mahathir's departure "is not that important." He indicated that the party was glad to be rid of Mahathir's disruptive influence.
Still, some ministers were clearly worried.
"I don't think that many people are obsessed with hate for the prime minister. But if sufficient numbers of members of Parliament leave UMNO, it ... could pave the way for the opposition alliance to form the government," Shahrir Samad, the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, told the AP.
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