Abdullah secures position as UMNO's undisputed leader

Abdullah secures position as UMNO's undisputed leader

Eileen Ng, Agence France-Presse/Kuala Lumpur

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has secured his position as
Malaysia's undisputed leader by winning the ruling party
presidency, brushing aside a surprise challenge from a veteran
prince-politician.

Abdullah, who became premier when Mahathir Mohamad retired
last October, took full control of the powerful United Malays
National Organization (UMNO) at the weekend when he won enough
nominations from party divisions to avoid a vote at the congress
in September.

His challenger, Tengku Razaleigh, a former finance minister in
the 1980s, won only the single endorsement of his own division
against 166 nominations for Abdullah, with just 15 more divisions
still to decide.

Abdullah's victory finally puts to rest doubts about his
support within UMNO, which has headed Malaysia's ruling National
Front coalition since independence from Britain in 1957, analysts
said.

It also consolidates the mandate he won in March general
elections for his brand of "modern and progressive" Islamic
governance, which helped roll back gains made by Islamic
hardliners in the previous elections in 1999.

Skeptics however continued to question Abdullah's authority
within the faction-ridden UMNO even after the election victory,
suggesting that powerful forces within the party might be unhappy
with his pledges to crack down on corruption.

"When he took over from Mahathir Abdullah was viewed as a
stop-gap measure, a seat-warmer, but no one should underestimate
him," said National University of Malaysia political scientist P.
Ramasamy.

"Winning the UMNO presidency unopposed after his election
mandate shows that his role is a long-term one."

Malaysian Strategic Research Center executive director Abdul
Razak Baginda noted that Abdullah, handpicked by Mahathir, had
never before been tested in UMNO elections and winning the
presidency unopposed confirmed he had the support of the party.

"The UMNO presidency is his final confirmation as the number
one leader of the country and that for the next three to five
years, there will be no dispute. The party is rallying behind
Abdullah and it's a signal that everybody wants to move forward."

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak also won the post of deputy
president unopposed. Under Malaysia's parliamentary system, the
UMNO president and deputy president traditionally become prime
minister and deputy premier.

Razaleigh's ignominious defeat represented "a changing of the
guard", the New Straits Times said in an editorial comment,
noting that many of his contemporaries, including Mahathir, were
"either retired or thrust into the political wilderness".

Razaleigh, a 67-year-old Malay prince from the poverty-
stricken eastern Kelantan state, narrowly lost to Mahathir in a
bitter contest for the party leadership in 1987 that split UMNO.

As leader of one of the world's most developed Muslim nations
Abdullah's policies and low-key international diplomacy, which
contrast strongly with Mahathir's strident style, have also won
him friends abroad.

He was due to meet U.S. President George W. Bush at the White
House on Monday before going on to France and Britain for talks
with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Malaysia took an anti-Western position under Mahathir and we
were rejected by the West. But Abdullah's moderate position now
will provide Malaysia with the role as a bridge between the
Islamic world and the Western world," said Abdul Razak.