Vote aims to display support for Mahathir

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will face a confidence vote in Parliament to allow lawmakers to reaffirm their support after his reported anti-Jewish statements, his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, said yesterday.

The decision by his supporters to table the confidence motion reflects their desire to respond to American demands that Dr Mahathir resign or apologise for his reported remarks that Jews did not want to see Muslim nations like Malaysia prosper.

Anti-Western sentiment, directed principally at the United States, has surged in Malaysia.

Many Malaysians, who were disinterested or critical when the Prime Minister first attacked American financier George Soros and other foreign 'rogue' speculators three months ago for allegedly launching speculative attacks on the Malaysian dollar, now believe there might be a Western conspiracy against Malaysia.

Analysts said nationalism was becoming more evident as Malaysians became worried over how the regional economic crisis would affect them.

Criticism of Dr Mahathir in Time and Newsweek magazines, which suggested he should resign, prompted an unusual bipartisan, nationwide show of support for the country's leader.

Dr Mahathir said this week that as a result of the Time and Newsweek articles, he was 'more firmly' in his seat.

He thanked the two main opposition parties, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam se-Malaysia for supporting his attack on currency speculators.

The opposition also joined government parties in condemning the US over its plan to send an official to Malaysia to investigate the investment of Petronas, the national oil company, in a project in Iran with French and Russian partners. Petronas and its partners have been threatened with US sanctions.

DAP deputy chairman Karpal Singh said the threat of sanctions was a 'serious infringement on the sovereignty of an independent country'.