SINGAPORE -- After more than 20 years at the helm of Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will step down Friday to make way for his chosen successor, Abdulla Badawi, who will become the country's fifth prime minister. All indicators point to a smooth and successful political transition, only the fourth in Malaysia's history.
Mahathir will be vacating the premiership in a blaze of international glory. He performed well as chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, whose summit took place recently in Kuala Lumpur. The week before that, Mahathir was impressive at the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN-plus-Three grouping in Bali, Indonesia. There, leaders bade him a moving farewell, especially Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the current ASEAN chairman.
After the OIC summit, Mahathir said goodbye to his colleagues from the 21-nation APEC, who gathered in Bangkok for their annual meeting. His good friend, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, paid him a fitting farewell in Bangkok as an international leader and statesman.