April 6, 1999
Web posted at: 11:53 p.m. EST (0453 GMT)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNN) -- Malaysia's worried financial markets were issued assurances Wednesday that the country's long-reigning Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was on the road to recovery.

Mahathir entered his fifth day in the hospital Wednesday where he is being treated for a lung infection but an aide said the 73-year-old was feeling "great" and walking around.

"His condition is great," the aide told Reuters. "He was walking around the ward yesterday."

Mahathir, 73, was taken to the National Heart Institute last Friday for treatment of a lung infection. His doctors said on Sunday that he was expected to remain in hospital for a few days.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Tuesday that there was no cause for concern and that Mahathir, who had a heart bypass operation in 1989, was suffering from bronchitis, not a heart problem.

Financial and commodities markets have been awash with rumors about the prime minister's health. Share prices dipped on Monday after rumors, later denied by an aide to Mahathir, began circulating that the prime minister was seriously ill.

Asked if there was any reason for markets to be concerned, the aide said: "Absolutely none." He said it was up to the doctors to decide when Mahathir would be released.

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang urged the government to issue twice-daily medical bulletins to dispel rumors.

"The hospitalization of Mahathir at the National Heart Institute or anywhere else can never be kept a secret, and in refusing timely information, the government has only itself to blame for the spate of rumors," Lim said in a statement.

Man on the run

An earlier statement by Mahathir's office said that upon his return to Kuala Lumpur from a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia on March 31, Mahathir suffered from a lung infection.

The statement said Mahathir had been advised by his regular doctors to rest and undergo "full treatment," and was expected to remain in hospital for a few days.

The former general practitioner is Malaysia's longest-serving premier, having taken office in 1981.

He says he had planned to step down in late 1998 but decided to stay on to steer the country through the economic downturn and political turbulence caused by his sacking of his former deputy and protege, Anwar Ibrahim, last September.

Mahathir generally keeps a hectic schedule that leaves younger aides breathless, and travels a great deal within Malaysia and overseas.

Before travelling to Saudi Arabia last week, Mahathir launched a nationwide tour of Malaysia ahead of general elections due by June 2000.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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