In his first visit to the city-state since handing over the premiership to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in October last year, the acerbic Mahathir was quick to note that his successor was likely to adopt a different approach in dealing with Singapore.

"I'm very glad that the problems I've created have been relegated to the background," said Mahathir in delivering a lecture on Asian leadership. "If you expect the one now (Badawi) to stand up on the rostrum to say what I say, you are hoping for the impossible."

The two Southeast Asian countries share close economic and cultural relations, but diplomatic ties have been strained by a series of disagreements over issues ranging from territorial disputes, military airspace and the price of water that much-larger Malaysia sells to Singapore.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong held talks with Badawi last week in the Malaysian capital as both countries appeared keen to heal their often-prickly ties.

Lee, the son of the city-state's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, replaced Goh Chok Tong in August this year. He has appointed his predecessor to be the point man in relations with Malaysia.

In a wide-ranging speech, Mahathir also warned that his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim might cause his successor "a lot of problems" when he returns to Malaysia.

Considered one of Malaysia's most charismatic politicians, Anwar was fired by Mahathir in 1998 and jailed on national security grounds. He was later convicted of corruption and sodomy and sentenced to prison terms totaling 15 years.

Malaysia's highest court on Sept. 2 overturned Anwar's sodomy conviction, freeing him. But it later upheld the corruption conviction, which Anwar had already served, leaving him a convicted felon barred from running for office until April 2008.

Anwar was discharged from a Munich, Germany, clinic Friday after back surgery, which he claims was as a result of a beating he received while in police custody.

"He will cause a lot of problems, but I feel the present government will be able to handle him," said Mahathir, who maintained that Anwar's imprisonment had nothing to do with a power struggle between them.

"This man was involved in sodomizing his driver....He was only released because the police got the dates wrong, he was not acquitted."

-Edited by Ven Ram

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