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.