Islamic Malaysia, the most peaceful multi-racial-cultural-religious country is blessed by a PM of vision and values

February 14, 2004

Malaysia PM's '100 days' testBy Jonathan Kent BBC, Kuala Lumpur

Sunday marks 100 days since Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi took office.

The new leader has a reputation for being a "clean pair of hands" and a man who cares about ordinary folk.

Abdullah was appointed, not elected, and needs to win convincingly

When Mr Abdullah - whom Malaysians affectionately call Pak Lah - took office last October, his late mother was just about the first person whom he went to see.

Kailan Hassan, who died last week, reminded the new leader: "Don't forget the people at the bottom."

Mr Abdullah seems to have taken her words to heart.

He has already started to distance himself from some of the excesses of his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Expect no repeats of mega projects with which the spendthrift Dr Mahathir littered Malaysia - the formula one circuit, the outsized international airport in the middle of nowhere, the world's tallest buildings, the empty stadia, the disused film village, the ostentatious new city of government in Putrajaya, and the multimedia super corridor that's yet to lead anywhere much.

Dr Mahathir enjoyed nothing more than to lecture the world from the stage that he had built for himself; in contrast Mr Abdullah prefers to do things quietly.

Singapore thaw

There are few better illustrations of this than the dramatic thaw in relations between Malaysia and its sibling neighbour Singapore.

For the first time we've had a prime minister speaking about the things that affect ordinary people

Andrew, Malaysian voter

The two have been trading insults since they split in 1965, and Dr Mahathir happily kept the war of words going.

Mr Abdullah prefers diplomacy and in January paid a low key visit to his Singaporean opposite number Goh Chok Tong.

Within weeks Mr Goh popped over to Malaysia to celebrate Lunar New Year, and the next day the two men were playing golf together.

There's not much sign of any improvement

R Sivarasa, human rights activist

The former Singaporean High Commissioner to Malaysia, Kesavapany, says the new PM's first 100 days have been "marked by goodwill and rapprochement".

"Hopefully the leadership on both sides of the Causeway will make use of this moment in history to rebuild ties and build a solid foundation for the future," Mr Kesavapany says.

Such a rapprochement is long overdue for in truth Singapore and Malaysia each benefit from the other's success.

Rallying support

At home, Malaysians are waiting for a sign that the autocratic rule of Dr Mahathir is being replaced with a gentler touch.

Corruption grew largely unchecked under Dr Mahathir

"There's not much sign of any improvement on that front," says R Sivarasa, director of the Malaysian human rights group, Suaram, and an opposition politician.

"The police have continued to restrict opposition attempts to hold rallies," Mr Sivarasa says.

"And the country's former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim still languishes in jail - serving 15 years for abuse of power and sodomy charges that few here believe him guilty of."

Mr Abdullah is unlikely to take any chances before a general election he's expected to call within weeks.

He was appointed, not elected, prime minister and he needs not just to win, which is a virtual certainty, but to win well so that he can claim a strong personal mandate.

So he's busy rallying support for his coalition National Front government.

Chinese 'revelations'

He's wooing Malaysia's ethnic minorities - Chinese, Tamil and tribal - telling them that Malaysia is as much for them as for the Malay majority.

He's even let it be known that he is one-quarter Chinese - like Malaysia itself.

It's a striking departure from decades of Malay ethno-nationalist rhetoric under Dr Mahathir.

Mr Abdullah is also out to persuade the rural Muslim Malay voters who deserted his party at the last election in 1999 to return.

So he's putting their concerns - small businesses, agriculture and rural development - at the top of the political agenda.

"This is an electorate that the Mahathir administration had neglected in the past," says Terence Gomez, one of Malaysia's leading economists.

"By responding to their needs so actively this is an avenue for him to draw support from this electorate and at the same time address a serious problem that needs to be rectified within the economy," Mr Gomez says.

Malaysians 'impressed'

Before Mr Abdullah took over I gathered a small group of Malaysians together to get their views.

They were sceptical. Pak Lah was a "yes" man, they said, weak, just a puppet of his former master Dr Mahathir.

Three months on they've changed their tune.

"For the first time we've had a prime minister speaking about the things that affect ordinary people," says Anthony, who works with disadvantaged groups.

Even his friend Andrew, who back in October expressed little faith in the new man, said he was impressed.

Tackling corruption

Their main concern however is corruption.

If Mr Abdullah is to keep his promise to fight it he'll need a very strong mandate at the polls because he'll be taking on some very powerful people.

Corruption grew largely unchecked under Dr Mahathir.

It stops government from functioning effectively, deters business, frightens away foreign investors, and really angers the people.

Mr Abdullah has above all else set himself up as its enemy - and he's probably the only leader Malaysia has, or is likely to have for a generation, who seems to have the will to tackle it.

If it doesn't happen now then the country may find itself eclipsed, as other East Asian nations, not least China, race ahead.

Mr Abdullah has already started on the "ikan bilis", or the small fry, among the police and civil servants.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3466273.stm