Malaysia deputy PM rallies behind embattled leader

KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 (Reuters) Malaysia's deputy prime minister rallied behind his embattled boss today after former premier Mahathir Mohamad made a stinging attack on his successor, accusing him of breaking a promise.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, seen as the only potential challenger for the leadership, backed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in comments published alongside Mahathir's barbed remarks on the front pages of local newspapers.

''I am appealing to all the party members and all the rakyat (people) to give full support to the PM,'' Najib told Malaysian reporters travelling with him on a trip to India.

Najib pointed to the overwhelming mandate given to Abdullah, a mild-mannered politician known as Pak Lah or ''uncle'', at the 2004 elections, shortly after he took the reins of power as the chosen successor of Mahathir, who retired in late 2003.

''After all, Pak Lah was given a big mandate by the people,'' Najib was quoted as saying.

Mahathir is angry at Abdullah for shelving or scrapping some major projects that had been conceived toward the end of Mahathir's 22-year reign and for developments at state-controlled car maker Proton Holdings Bhd, a Mahathir brainchild.

Last month, he said the government had sold out Malaysian sovereignty and lacked ''guts'' after it scrapped a planned bridge to neighbouring Singapore because the island state objected.

Mahathir, an adviser to Proton, was also unhappy that the car maker did not renew the previous chief executive's contract and had sold off its motorcycle subsidiary for next to nothing.

On Wednesday, at a news conference called to discuss an upcoming peace forum he is hosting, Mahathir returned to the attack and said Abdullah had promised him he would continue with major projects begun by the former government.

''I chose him ... I expect a reasonable degree of gratefulness but instead I am told that I have indulged in mega-projects and that I have finished all the money in the country,'' he said.

Mahathir still commands strong support within the main ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation, which can make or break prime ministers.

Abdullah, who lacks his own strong faction within UMNO, has tried to keep above the fray and has so far not responded directly to Mahathir's criticisms.

REUTERS SK VC0743