It's in all the newspapers today... the next general election would be held before Dr Mahathir Mohamad steps down in October next year. And who would have thought that the prime minister himself — not usually the man to make such a slip — would let us on into this little detail.

Yesterday, he was urging all Barisan Nasional component parties to accept whatever decision he made on seat allocations for the next elections, and I quote:

"Saya rayu awal-awal lagi...bila saya putuskan, terima sajalah" — Utusan Malaysia

"Since I have to decide on this, I appeal to all Barisan (Nasional) members to accept my decision in good faith." — The Star

"I'm saying this because eventually I'll be the one to decide..." — New Straits Times

If Mahathir is the one who will decide who gets what, then he will have to be Prime Minister to be able to do that. Since, he says he's stepping down in Oct 2003, then we can make the conclusion that the general elections would be held before that.

Unless...