Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today confirmed his desire to meet with US president George W Bush during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (Apec) in Shanghai, China this October.

"I'm not rejecting the idea. I'm not saying that I don't want to meet with him, but it all depends on the circumstances," Mahathir told reporters after giving a speech at the Malaysian Institute for Islamic Understanding in Kuala Lumpur.

However, he said that he was not aware of any conditions being imposed before such a meeting could take place.

"I don't think that there should be conditions. If we want to talk, we talk," Mahathir said.

The Far Eastern Economic Review reported this week that US top officials, during a July 16 meeting in Washington with Foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar, said they would like to see improvements in three areas before a meeting could be arranged between the two heads of state.

It was reported that the 'conditions' set by the Americans included the government's treatment of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently serving a 15-year jail sentence for sodomy and abuse of power, and is seeking overseas surgery for his ailing back.

The other two were the detention of six Keadilan leaders under the Internal Security Act and delays in the distribution of foreign news magazines which included the Review and Asiaweek.

US-Malaysia relations have been chilly since former US vice-president Al Gore openly declared his sympathies for the 'reformasi' movement at the 1998 Apec meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

It is believed that Mahathir is seeking to improve ties with the new Bush administration, which is considered to be less 'interventionist' than former US president Bill Clinton's administration.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday denied that Mahathir had wanted to meet Bush.

He also accused the US of trying to find fault with other countries while ignoring the realities of local politics.

Didn't understand

When asked on Umno Youth's opposition to the recent announcement that local university admissions should be based on merit and not race, Mahathir, who is Umno president, said that the party's youth movement did not fully understand the issue.

"They did not disagree. They just did not understand the issue because Hishamuddin Hussein (Onn), the Youth chief, was not present at the party's supreme council meeting last week when I announced it," Mahathir said.

On Monday, Hishamuddin backed the maintaining of the bumiputera quota system for university places as Malays students were still experiencing a very low rate of admissions.

He said that in the absence of a racial quota, the gap between bumiputera and non-bumiputera students would increase, especially in the technical fields such as science and technology.