The formal hand-over of power was performed in a nationally-broadcast ceremony before King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin at the royal palace in Kuala Lumpur.

Abdullah, 63, took the oath of office as Malaysia's fifth prime minister since independence from Britain in 1957 as Mahathir, 77, followed through on a pledge to retire first made 16 months ago.

After the ceremony the two men were due to travel separately to the prime minister's office in the new administrative capital of Putrajaya south of Kuala Lumpur.

At 4:45 pm, Mahathir clocked out, using the punch card system he introduced for civil servants a month after becoming prime minister in July 1981.

On Monday, Abdullah will clock in at 8.15 am after spending the weekend in his home state of Penang.

Local newspapers published massive supplements of lavish praise for the outgoing premier, but he was snubbed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard and criticised by the United States congress.

Howard said in a radio interview he had no farewell message for Mahathir, who has regularly dismissed Australia's bid to be accepted as part of Asia, describing it recently as "some sort of transplant from another region".

In Washington, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in condemning Mahathir for his remarks at an Islamic summit in mid-October that Jews rule the world by proxy.

Asked how he would like to be remembered, Mahathir said he did not mind if he was forgotten, but added: "They will not forget all -- as Shakespeare has said, 'the evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones'."

The "good", though, was the focus of Friday's media tributes, one of which described Mahathir as "the greatest Malaysian alive".

Echoing the grudging acknowledgement of even his critics, the New Straits Times said: "No one can dispute his central accomplishment of transforming Malaysia from an agricultural backwater into a rapidly industrialising economy and manufacturing powerhouse."

Mahathir has run a moderate multi-religious country and stepped down voluntarily with a democratic system.

Abdullah will face general elections within a year, with the hardline Islamic Party (PAS) presenting the biggest challenge to his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which has been in power since independence.

Mahathir, who came to power when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher led the United States and Britain, outlasted contemporaries like the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Indonesia's ousted strongman Suharto, 82, and Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, 80.

Abdullah will join a different breed of younger leaders exemplified by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 54, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, 56, and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, 56.

The most obvious change in Malaysia, however, will be one of style rather than substance. Abdullah is not expected to make any radical changes to Mahathir's economic and social policies.