Out to Come Back In

Two of the most securely rooted leaders in Southeast Asia have quit their prime ministries--the better to secure their leadership.

P: In Burma, the paradox was accomplished by General Ne Win, 48, who resigned as Prime Minister and left the decision for the future up to the Assembly. He was quitting, Ne Win blandly explained, because the original six-month mandate given him by the Assembly last October was insufficient to restore law and order and prepare for national elections. After a decorous debate last week, all parties except the Red-lining National United Front agreed with Ne Win and amended the constitution to let the general resume power--and again prepare for elections. Target date: some time before Jan. 1, 1961.

P: In Malaya, deceptively gentle-mannered Prime Minister Tengku Abdul Rahman, 56, announced that he was resigning after a two-month vacation because "the time has come for me to go among the people again." Rahman's reasoning: he has ruled for the past four years through an alliance of three parties that have grown flabby for want of opposition. (Even the Communist guerrillas in the Malayan jungles are down to an official 347.) With federation-wide elections due this summer, Rahman is making a strategic withdrawal in order to stump the villages and make doubly sure that his own party (the United Malays' National Organization) as well as himself emerges safely on top.

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