Mahathir attacks Singapore media

"You look at the team in Singapore, it hasn't changed very much, has it?," Mahathir told reporters in Malaysia's capital.

"Somebody has been prime minister longer than I have been and I don't have my son waiting for me to succeed," he said in a clear reference to Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who has been prime minister for 31 years and whose son is deputy prime minister.

Singapore's Business Times newspaper said in an editorial on Saturday that parties in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's governing coalition had a "very low propensity for renewal" and that Mahathir's party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), was having difficulty attracting young people. "Longevity looks good in the record books and allows for continuity and stability," the daily said. "But it can also be counter-productive if it chokes off fresh ideas." The paper also said Mahathir's record after 18 years in power was "patchy."

"I don't like to say these nasty things, but Singapore papers have a habit of passing nasty comments on us and we keep quiet because we are very nice people," Mahathir told a news conference on the sidelines of UMNO's annual meeting.

"But if they like to pick a quarrel with us, we are ready to have a quarrel with them. Our aim has never (been) to make comments about them. I have always downplayed any differences with Singapore but sometimes one gets fed-up with them."

Relations between Singapore and Malaysia have often been rocky despite heavy bilateral trade, investment and tourism between the two countries. Last year saw a particularly bad patch for ties, with the governments arguing on issues such as shared water resources and immigration facilities, among others.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar warned that the Singapore Business Times editorial went against the policy of non-interference practised by members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"It is not appropriate for them to go out of their way in order to suggest a change of leadership in Malaysia," Syed Hamid said. "It is contrary to the spirit of ASEAN. It is something that is not proper and correct."

Malaysia's Business Times newspaper also criticised the unsigned editorial in the Singapore Business Times.

"Are they exercising a new-found press freedom where they are free to criticise as long as it's not their own government?" said the Malaysian newspaper.

It noted that Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew had been prime minister of Singapore for 31 years, longer than Mahathir.

"Perhaps the Singapore Business Times was trying to tell Malaysians not to make the same mistake that Singaporeans did in this department?" it said.