Two other Mahathir stalwarts, incumbent Youth head Rahim Tamby Chik and Rural Development Minister Annuar Musa, lost in the Youth leadership race to Zahid Hamidi, another Anwar ally.

CNN: Straight from the Heart

The list of casualties reads like a Who's Who of Mahathir backers: the PM's close friend and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, former agriculture minister Sanusi Junid, the ex-deputy premier Ghafar Baba, former chief minister of Malacca Rahim Tamby Chik, current deputy ministers Khalid Yunus and Railey Jeffrey, and the party's veteran information chief Hussein Ahmad.

CNN: HEN MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER

The story begins in 1994, when the Malaysian press revealed that then Malacca chief minister Rahim Tamby Chik apparently had been led astray by a 15-year-old schoolgirl. (The accused's rivals in the dominant national party UMNO leaked the tawdry details.) Rahim was subjected to a vicious character assassination by a wide spectrum of society, including his party colleagues and the government-controlled media.

CNN: Truth and Consequence