THE PACIFIC SUMMIT : Malaysia : Leader Gives Seattle a Cold Shoulder : Prime Minister Mahathir is snubbing the forum--but sending an envoy.

There will be at least one empty chair when President Clinton meets privately this weekend with the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization--and not because of old age, illness or some other diplomatic excuse.

“I will not be going,” Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed told a news conference here earlier this month, explaining that he sees the Asia-Pacific group as working in the interests of big powers like the United States and not developing countries such as his own.

But for longtime observers of Mahathir, including politicians, diplomats and journalists in Kuala Lumpur, the fact that he is snubbing Seattle goes far beyond his attitude toward the organization and reflects a lifelong suspicion of the West and its institutions.

For much of the 12 years since he became prime minister, Mahathir has played both sides of the diplomatic street, scathingly criticizing Western culture and the West’s role in world affairs while at the same time courting Western investment for his booming economy.

“Mahathir has a predisposition to be hostile to the West,” said a diplomat based in Kuala Lumpur. “He is looking for Japan to be an ally of Malaysia against the U.S. and the West.”

Perhaps as a result, Mahathir has proposed the formation of an economic grouping that he calls the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC), essentially APEC without the United States and Canada. But neither Japan nor South Korea has shown much interest in the idea, and the United States has been openly, and vociferously, opposed.

“Mahathir believes that if APEC succeeds, it will derail the EAEC,” said an Asian diplomat. “The Malaysians won’t leave APEC, but they won’t do anything to help its status.”

A senior editor of an English-language newspaper in Kuala Lumpur, who asked not to be quoted by name, said Mahathir is staying away from Seattle because he “fears that APEC could be hijacked by America for American purposes.”

But the editor noted that in the last couple of weeks, Mahathir decided to send Rafidah Aziz, the well-regarded minister of international trade and industry, in his place--a sign that he regards the meeting as important.

The 68-year-old Mahathir has shown a tendency to nurture grudges for many years. It is widely believed, for example, that he still hasn’t forgiven Australia for Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s characterization of him as “a barbarian” when he failed to stop the execution of two Australians accused of drug trafficking.

In the early 1980s, Mahathir initiated a “Buy British Last” campaign by the Malaysian government. Among the grievances he reportedly held was the fact that as a young man, he had applied for medical school in Britain and been turned down. He is the first Malaysian ruler not to come equipped with an English education.

Mahathir himself has created a legend about his chilly relations with the United States, accusing former Secretary of States James A. Baker III of deriding his Malaysian clothes as “wearing skirts.” The offending remark was apparently passed on to Mahathir by the Japanese government, but the United States denies that Baker ever made the comment.

Mahathir, who is notoriously thin-skinned, was also outraged at the arrangements for a tete-a-tete with former President George Bush at Boston College, where the Malaysian’s son was graduating. They met in a locker room redolent of sweaty socks.

At the same time Mahathir has succeeded in getting many American firms to invest in his country and has established good defense relations with the United States despite his private animosities.

Quite apart from his desire to settle some personal grudges, Mahathir is a skillful politician and has discovered that attacking the West plays well with the home audience in this conservative, Islamic country of 18 million.

At a conference of his political party at the beginning of November, Mahathir devoted a hefty portion of his speech to an attack on the West’s attitude toward Islam.

“There are signs that the West now considers Islam as a threat,” he said. “There is a possibility that we may be the target of direct attacks from the West. With our present weaknesses, a Western attack will destroy us completely.”

Mahathir is also annoyed by the West’s criticism of environmental policies in Malaysia and of violations of human rights in Asia. He has denounced Western countries for trying to impose limits on logging here after allowing their own forests to be exploited.

At home, Mahathir recently suffered a humiliating defeat at the assembly of his United Malays National Organization when delegates voted to elect candidates by slate--a system he had just rejected. But his own position appears secure, at least until the next party election in 1996.

Many political analysts believe that Malaysia has become more authoritarian during Mahathir’s dozen years in office. Many of the country’s democratic traditions, such as an independent judiciary and a free press, have been muzzled since he came to power.

A 1985 law, for example, gave the government the sole authority to issue permits for printing presses and newspapers. Not surprisingly, there are now no newspapers in Malaysia with the courage to criticize Mahathir or his government.

Mahathir, who also wears the hat of home minister, also has been willing to use the country’s Internal Security Act, a vestige of British colonialism, to jail political opponents without trial.

But, apparently because he is mindful of the international opprobrium that can result when governments throw critics in jail, opposition politicians in Parliament are allowed to speak their mind. Their comments are just not picked up by newspapers, radio or TV.

“If you can’t get your message across, what good is it?” said Karpal Singh, an opposition Parliament member who was detained for 18 months in the mid-1980s.