MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said parliament will be dissolved today, paving the way for a snap election within weeks that will be a referendum on his four-month rule.

Abdullah took over from Mahathir Mohamad on November 1 when the veteran leader stepped aside in favour of his deputy after 22 years in power.

The ruling multi-ethnic coalition is sure of winning an election, but the 64-year-old son of a respected Muslim scholar needs to strengthen his grip on power by solidly defeating the conservative Islamist opposition.

Abdullah met the king yesterday amid heated speculation he would take advantage of an accelerating economy and booming stock market to call for an election that was not due until November. ?His Majesty the King has given his consent for the dissolution of 10th parliament effective March 4 to pave the way for the 11th general election,? Abdullah said in a statement issued by state news agency Bernama.

Polls must follow within 60 days of parliaments dissolution. But the Election Commission is likely to set the date much sooner, with speculation fixed on March 20 as it is the end of a week-long school break, and schools serve as polling centres.

The main stock market index, which was just a few points short of 900 points on Tuesday, slipped back 2.44 per cent to by mid-afternoon as investors took profits. Stocks have undergone a characteristic pre-election rally ? the benchmark index gained eight per cent in the last month, though it lagged other Asian indices over the past year.

The new prime minister, an ex-civil servant and a long-time presence in Mahathirs cabinets, has earned plaudits at home and abroad by marking the start of the post-Mahathir era with an anti-corruption campaign and a call for ethical governance. He appointed a new chief of police, and last month a government minister was arrested and charged with corruption.

The only setback Abdullah suffered in the run-up to polls was the stunning news that a firm controlled by his son, Kamaluddin Abdullah, was linked to the nuclear arms proliferation scandal involving Pakistans top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. The smooth transition of power has encouraged investors in Malaysia, and the countrys fixed exchange rate is now regarded as the main financial risk factor.

The ringgit peg was set at 3.8 per dollar in 1998 to ward off the Asian financial crisis, and last month the central bank governor said the peg was just three per cent off its fair value despite the dollars weakness in international markets.

The ruling coalitions victory is assured ? the multi-ethnic Barisan Nasional has formed every government since independence from Britain in 1957. But the coalition relied on support from Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities to retain its two-thirds majority ? required to enact changes in the Constitution.

Abdullah also needs his own United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) to claw back ground lost in 1999 when the party won less than half the ethnic Malay vote, losing ground to the Islamists and supporters of Anwar, who was sacked in 1998 and subsequently jailed on sex and abuse of power charges after starting a ?Reformasi? movement.

Abdullah has focused attention on rural development and government services, eschewing the ?mega-project? politics of his predecessor often criticised as cronyism. But another weak UMNO showing would reinforce perceptions that Abdullah is a one-term leader, and encourage ambitious rivals within the party to begin plotting his downfall.

Jalil HAMID