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KUALA LUMPUR, Sunday (AFP)

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad went on unscheduled leave Sunday after stunning the nation with a tearful resignation as ruling party leader and then agreeing to stay on.

Pictures of an anguished and weeping Mahathir, 76, were splashed on the front pages of all local newspapers, as pundits grappled to understand the astonishing behaviour of a man who has led the country for 21 years. The totally unexpected announcement of his resignation in his closing address to the annual assembly of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) on Saturday night caused pandemonium.

Some 2,000 delegates began weeping and shouting "long live Mahathir", while his deputy Abdullah Ahmed Badawi and other party leaders rushed to the podium and begged him to change his mind.

They ushered him from the stage into a private room and remained closeted there for an hour before Abdullah, who is also deputy prime minister, returned to announce that Mahathir had agreed to stay on.

The premier himself, who would have been expected also to relinquish the prime ministership as it is linked to UMNO leadership, did not reappear.

Abdullah said he had gone home. "He was very emotional as you all saw in the hall earlier. Otherwise, he is fine."

He announced that Mahathir would take 10 days leave and be back at work on July 3 to prepare for a scheduled visit to neighbouring Thailand from July 5-7.

Police guards at the gates of his residence told reporters later Saturday night that the prime minister had told them to refuse entry to all visitors, including cabinet ministers.

Even Mahathir's family was reportedly unaware of his intention to announce his resignation, and analysts were divided over the meaning of the ageing leader's action.

"You must understand he has been under terrible strain," said University Malaya professor Khoo Kay Kim. "He must be emotionally fragile now."

Professor P. Ramasamy agreed. "Maybe he was emotionally disturbed. I don't think he really planned it in a rational manner."

A psychiatrist, however, dismissed this view. "Mahathir is not frail. He knows what he is doing. His character is strong," he said, requesting anonymity. "He can take stress which the average person may buckle under. If he is emotional, it just means that he cares."

And opposition Democratic Action Party publicity secretary Ronnie Liew said Mahathir's resignation was simply an "act" designed to rally party members behind him.

In his opening address to the UMNO assembly on Thursday, Mahathir said he had failed for 21 years in his main task of changing the mindset of the country's Malay majority, whom he regularly berates as lazy. In a brutal assessment of his own race, he said they had come to rely on special economic and educational privileges introduced in an attempt to narrow the wealth gap with the minority Chinese.

But an analysis in the New Sunday Times said reaction to his shock resignation had shown that Mahathir himself had become "the crutch of the nation" which found the prospect of life without his leadership "unimaginable".

Mahathir, whose name has become almost synonymous with a Malaysia which has seen rapid economic growth under his stewardship, has said in the past that he would step down one day, but always refused to give any indication of when that might be.

He was widely expected to at least lead his party, backbone of the ruling National Front coalition, into the next general election.

Elections are not due until late 2004, but there had been speculation that Mahathir could call an early vote to capitalise on the perceived loss of support for the main opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

Mahathir has deftly used fears of Islamic militancy against PAS in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, and UMNO has seen a resurgence in popularity.

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