Malaysia to replace Badawi in March

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia is to get a new prime minister in March as the government seeks to hold on to its 51-year grip on power at a time when economic growth is slowing sharply and the opposition is pressing hard.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who led the government to its worst ever election result and will become the shortest lived Malaysian leader, said he would not stand in a party election next year, effectively ceding power to his deputy.

Najib Razak, the son of one prime minister and the nephew of another, will have to wait six months to take charge, although he is seen as a shoo-in in the leadership election for the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the biggest government party.

"I know that I was not doing well enough during the [March] election so it's time for someone else to take over," Abdullah said yesterday when asked whether he was forced out of office.

When he took office in late 2003, Abdullah was seen as a clean broom who would end the nepotism and cronyism of Mahathir Mohammad, the man who led Malaysia for 22 years.

His promises of reform saw him win a landslide election victory in 2004, only for the government to fall to its worst ever result in a poll in March this year.

Since then Malaysia's economy, which had recovered strongly from the Asian crisis of a decade ago, has faltered and economic growth in 2009 is forecast at just three per cent, according to leading investment bank CIMB.