WIRE:05/11/2000 05:11:00 ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's tight grip on Malaysia's governing party has crushed internal debate, some delegates at the party's annual convention said today.

Leaders of the United Malays National Organization are calling on the 2,000 delegates to the party's national convention to reflect on the bruises inflicted by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party in November, when the opposition tripled its seats in parliament.

But little debate is likely in a climate where rank-and-file members say they are afraid to speak up against party policies, lest they be seen as criticizing Mahathir, 74, who has controlled the UMNO since he became prime minister in 1981.

"If we air our grouses, we are finished," said Azmin, a delegate who would not give his full name. "Mahathir's style is, `I talk, you listen.' If you won't listen, he'll crush you. It's simple."

Mahathir, in his keynote address today, called on his party workers to obey his policies if they wanted to enjoy the benefits of the economic growth his government had brought.

"An army ordered to march forward surely knows that they might be killed, but as members who are disciplined, they will follow orders," he said. "But if they go against orders, it is highly likely that they will be defeated, their country defeated, and they themselves destroyed by their enemies."

Mahathir has often said Asian democracies need not be as open as those in the West.

"Many still do not understand the ways of democracy and the need to close ranks and support the winner," he said today.

Mahathir was later reinstalled as UMNO president for another term, ensuring that he faces no internal political challenge until 2003. His deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was confirmed as the party's No. 2 leader.

The internal elections lost their luster this year after Mahathir and Abdullah were granted additional terms without elections. UMNO leaders said the contest for the two top posts were scrapped for the sake of party unity.

Many younger UMNO members at the convention are angry about the diminishing internal democracy, but say they can't speak up.

"Of course many of us are upset," said Hisham, a state-level leader who also would only give his first name. "Mahathir makes sure he controls the playing field, then he prevents us from playing the game.

"If any of us speak up against him, we'll lose everything _ our jobs, our contracts, our positions in the party," he said. "So we've no choice but to stay silent."

Other delegates want a debate on reforms in the party, which has lost popularity since Mahathir fired his charismatic deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in September 1998.

Anwar is now serving a six-year jail term for corruption and is on trial for sodomy. He denies the charges and says they were concocted to destroy his challenge to Mahathir.

Observers say that in his initial years as party president, Mahathir was more democratic and open to criticism and dissent. That changed in 1987, when he narrowly survived a challenge from then-Finance Minister Razaleigh Hamzah.

Since then, political observers say, he has crushed dissent, punished his critics and used his powers to change the party constitution so that challengers need far more nominations.

"He has applied more force and coercion in UMNO than any of his other predecessors," said William Case, a political science professor at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, who was in Kuala Lumpur to observe the convention. "This also means that if you want to flourish in UMNO, you had better behave yourself."

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