Mahathir leaves new leader to mop up

Mahathir leaves new leader to mop up

Simon Cameron-Moore, Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad always courted
international attention, but in his last days in power he got
more than he bargained for.

Suddenly, by railing against perceived Jewish world
domination, the leader of a small Southeast Asian nation became
big, bad news in small-town newspapers across the United States
and Western Europe.

This left his far more diplomatic successor, Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi, the task of cleaning up Malaysia's image as a peaceful
multi-cultural, religiously tolerant country that welcomes
tourists and makes good electronics.

Mahathir's speech to a summit of Islamic leaders two weeks
before retirement went one sound bite too far, trampling on
Western sensitivities by saying Jews had emerged from the
holocaust to "rule this world by proxy".

Western condemnation rained down on Kuala Lumpur, even though
he also called for Palestinians to make peace with Israel and
stop suicide bombings.

"It's the worst period since Anwar was jailed," remarked one
western diplomat, referring back to a defining moment in
Mahathir's rule -- the sacking and jailing of his popular deputy
prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998.

For all Mahathir's protests that Western media had taken his
remarks on Jews out of context it was his fixed sight of the
world through a prism of race, religion and ethnicity that earned
him opprobrium at the end.

Abdullah, Malaysia's fifth prime minister, will champion the
Palestinian cause and any other injustice felt by Muslims, but
he's unlikely to make as many world headlines.

It is hard to imagine Abdullah unleashing verbal zingers like
Mahathir, upsetting homosexuals, the "white European race",
Singaporeans, Australian prime ministers and, of course, Jews.

If he differs in style, Abdullah still subscribes to
Mahathir's vision for Malaysia and changes will be made
stealthily.

"He's not going to be a Gorbachev. There won't be any glasnost
or perestroika," remarked a source close to Abdullah, reflecting
how the Soviet Communist Party foundered in the wake of Mikhail
Gorbachev's reformist drive.

Ultimately, Malaysia's stability has rested on the state of
UMNO, the United Malays National Organization, which has led all
the multi-ethnic Barisan Nasional coalition governments since
independence from Britain in 1957.

Abdullah must cement his power base if he is to be more than
an interim leader and avoid the damaging UMNO power struggles
that would only help a conservative Islamist opposition.

Mahathir suppressed pressures for change, notably from Anwar's
Reformasi movement, but analysts say the social forces unleashed
by two decades of rapid industrialization and the spread of
Islamization will haunt Abdullah.

Mahathir earns plenty of plaudits for Malaysia's economic
development, and steering the country out of the Asian crisis.

But not for nurturing liberal democracy.

Still, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States,
Mahathir appeared just what Washington wanted -- a Muslim leader
with a good record for developing his people, tough on law and
order, and holding progressive views on religion.

His voice had resonance in the Islamic and developing worlds,
while his "Look East" economic strategy made him popular
elsewhere in Asia.