[Perletakkan jawatan Daim menimbulkan beberapa teka-teki kerana beliau tidak memberikan sebab mengapa mahu berhenti. Ada pelbagai teori sudah menjelma tetapi apa yang penting sekali tindakkan itu akan menyelamatkan Mahathir - 'kawan lamo'nya agar dia juga terselamat juga. Jika Daim melawan secara nyata dia mungkin teraib - khabar angin dan surat layang serta akhbar perdana sentiasa bersedia untuk memusnahkan hidupnya. Lebih baik Daim berhenti sahaja sebelum khabar angin yang lebih dahsyat menjelma sebagaimana yang mengena Anwar.

Ada teori mengatakan Daim sudah bosan dengan Mahathir kerana mencampuri bidangnya seperti isu penggabungan bank dan menyelamat kroni. Kalaulah tawaran Singtel buat time dotCom itu tidak terhalang beliau mungkin tidak berakhir sebegini. IPO Time dotCom telah mencederakan dirinya dan kini penyelamatan LRT pula sudahpun tersangkut. Besar kemungkinan beliau merancang agar beberapa bank digabungkan untuk menyelamatkan LRT. Oleh kerana itu tidak menjadi - pengeluaran bon telah dirancang tetapi siapa yang akan membeli kerana isu time dotCom telah menyebabkan kebisingan dan protes seperti ugutan piket MTUC.

Kelihatan di sini Daim teraniaya oleh sikap Mahathir yang telah menterbalikkan beberapa langkah penting menyelamat ekonomi kroni melalui jalan yang lebih selamat sehingga terpaksa merintis jalan yang penuh berduri yang ternyata telah menimbulkan kemarahan rakyat negara ini termasuk akar-umbi Umno sendiri.

Ada juga pendapat mengatakan Daim lebih memihak agar ringgit dinilai semula kerana saham BSKL sudah merosot menggila (16%) sehingga prestasinya paling teruk di Asia sejak tahun ini bermula.

Disamping itu pelantikkan penasihat ekonomi oleh Mahathir baru-baru ini seolah-olah mahu memperlekehkan lagi Daim. Ini menunjukkan Daim sudah tidak bebas merencana kerana Mahathir lebih berkuasa dan berhak menukarnya. Selain itu masalah lapuran penyata kewangan Umno turut menghantui Daim kerana Mahathir sudah tidak mahu melindunginya lagi dengan menunda ke lain hari. Sekiranya semua faktor di atas diambil kira memang lebih baik Daim berhenti (dari semua jawatan) jika tidak dia akan berdepan dengan lebih banyak masalah lagi dengan Mahathir tidak bersedia untuk mempertahankannya lagi. - Editor]

http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/010603/3/rhl3.html

Sunday June 3, 4:41 PM

ANALYSIS-Without Daim, Mahathir needs answers for Malaysia

By Patrick Chalmers

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 (Reuters) - Malaysia has wrapped up one enigma with the resignation of Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin but left untouched a bigger one concerning its economic and political future under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Overseas investors -- tired by the country's financial controls, corporate governance questions and the hostility of Mahathir's public comments about foreign financiers -- are unlikely to rush back after the announcement of Daim's departure on Saturday.

One factor is southeast Asia's fall from grace among investors, due in part to China's money magnetism as well as political turmoil in neighbouring Indonesia and the Philippines.

On the domestic front, the lack of a named successor to Daim leaves Malaysians and foreign investors wondering where the remedy for the country's stuttering economy will come from and who has vision needed to carry out financial reforms.

Even if the post is filled, which may not happen if Mahathir takes it on as he has done before, questions will remain over how much autonomy the new minister will enjoy.

There is some speculation that Daim was fed up with Mahathir interfering in policy, like the banking sector consolidation, and criticism levelled at him personally over government bail-outs for Malay tycoons.

According to one political analyst here, who requested anonymity, the finance minister was less wedded to the Malaysia's fixed exchange rate than the prime minister.

Malaysia's stock market, which slipped on Friday as rumours of Daim's exit spread, may welcome the end of uncertainty when it reopens Tuesday after a religious holiday for Mohamad's birthday.

It has been gripped by talk of a rift between Mahathir and Daim since April, when the premier said his finance minister was "tired" and would be taking two months' leave.

ASIA'S WORST PERFORMER

But Asia's worst-performing market this year, down 16 percent so far, is unlikely to go far.

"The announcement will not have any serious impact on the financial market when it reopens on Tuesday," the Malaysian Investors' Association (MIA) said in a statement.

More critical, said the MIA, was Daim's replacement.

"The policies of the next finance minister will definitely have a huge impact on the future fiscal and monetary directions of the country," it added.

Whether that will be Mahathir's top priority may depend on the real reason for Daim's exit.

The political analyst said it would spell trouble for the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) if the parting was acrimonious, and if Daim's enemies in the party went on a purge of the former finance minister's allies.

The Sun on Sunday newspaper, quoting an unnamed UMNO party veteran, said the finance chief's exit demanded careful scrutiny.

"If Daim, a close friend, resigned because he has no confidence in Mahathir's leadership, then this is very serious."

Even if Daim resigned just to escape the glare of politics, that too demanded explanation, the veteran added.

Uncertainties in the country at large are probably magnified within UMNO, which holds its annual assembly later this month with the leadership and rank and file waiting for any sign of the day the 75-year-old Mahathir calls it quits.

MALAYS SPLIT

Mahathir has so far failed to reunite UMNO's ethnic Malay vote bank, which split after the sacking and jailing of Daim's predecessor Anwar Ibrahim in 1998.

Anwar is serving 15 years in jail for s###my and corruption offences he says were cooked up to thwart his challenge to Mahathir. Mahathir calls him immoral and unfit to rule.

The government's unpopularity was compounded by the opposition stirring resentment over the bail-outs of tycoons.

UMNO morale has also suffered amid allegations of money politics, an issue Mahathir has launched a campaign against.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is Mahathir's annointed successor but political commentators question whether he will hold on to the top job if he gets that far.

With a sound majority, the government is safe until the next election in 2004, but UMNO will need to avoid internal divisions if it hopes to stop more Malays going over to an Islamic opposition party which has thrown its weight behind Anwar.