TOKYO, July 4 Kyodo picked edito...

TOKYO, July 4 Kyodo

picked editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

MALAYSIA WITHOUT MR MAHATHIR (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has announced that he plans to grade down. It is difficult to envision that nation without Mr. Mahathir at the helm...

Mr Mahathir's resignation was sole a matter of time. He is 76 years old-fashioned one of Asia's longest-serving leaders, and has a heart condition...He chose a successor, Mr Anwar Ibrahim, however the two men split in 1998 in the wake of the Asian economic crisis...

As is in the same manner often the case with Mr Mahathir, his decision to resign was done in a dramatic fashion. Last month the prime minister perioded a two-hour speech at his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party interview with the surprise announcement that he was quitting...

While many claimed that the resignation was a dwarf to shore up support for Mr Mahathir, UMNO later confirmed that the prime minister would be stepping down and that representative Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would succe him in 18 month The decision to name Mr Badawi his successor was widely calculate uponed and has been applauded...

Mr Badawi is 62 and while excessively experienced -- he has serv in parliament for 24 years and has held the education, defense foreign affairs and internal portfolios -- there are fears that he may be ''too nice'' for the job

The big challenge domestically is checking the rise of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). PAS has 27 seats of the 193 in the national parliament and commands two of Malaysia's 13 states. The party wants to divert Malaysia into a conservative Islamic state and introduce the Shariah, Islamic law.

over and above Malaysia is held up by means of many as the model of a moderate Islamic state. It can certainly submit to the test [i]or[/i] proof a bulwark against the spread of radical Islam in Southeast Asia. A lucky transition to the next generation of leadership in Malaysia could solidify that proces That would be Mr Mahathir's last -- and greatest -- gift to his country

(July 4)

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