Malaysia's glad-handing new prime minister calls a halt to backhanders
Malaysia's glad-handing new prime minister calls a halt to backhanders
Simon Cameron-Moore, Reuters, Kuala Lumpur
Less than 100 days after Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad ended an era
with his retirement, his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has
served notice to Malaysia's business cronies and corrupt
officials that times have changed.
Analysts had questioned whether the softer, gentler Badawi
could step out of the shadow of Mahathir, whose 22-year reign was
characterized by vitriolic rhetoric against the West, Zionists,
homosexuals and liberal democracy.
But now they see as much change in substance as style in the
leadership of the man popularly known as "Pak Lah" -- a
diminutive for Uncle Badawi that testifies to the warm, fuzzy
image the former civil servant enjoys with people.
"Nothing new was expected of him. It has been a pleasant
surprise," said Shahrir Samad, a member of the United Malays
National Organization (UMNO) Supreme Council, and one of the few
vocal critics of Mahathir in the ruling party.
Francis Yeoh, an ethnic Chinese tycoon whose YTL Group
prospered during the Mahathir years, said people were more
willing to speak out: "In the past, there was some cynicism and
orneriness."
Malaysians aren't alone seeing a change for the better.
Badawi, 64, is soothing ties with Washington, strained by
Mahathir's anger over the invasion of Iraq and by his remarks
about Jews to an Islamic summit just before he retired.
Singapore, too, has felt Badawi's healing touch as he and
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong used the Chinese New Year to put
aside the bad blood that surfaced in Mahathir's final years over
water supplies and a host of other more minor disagreements.
But it is Badawi's emphasis on ethics and his stand against
graft at home that sets him apart.
No one expects any witch hunts -- but he has drawn a line.
He's installed a new police chief and ordered a review of the
awful image of the force -- something he never dared to do as
Mahathir's home minister.
He wants a more efficient, transparent civil service.
His taxmen have begun chasing VIPs and big companies.
He's also shelved multi-billion dollar deals Mahathir gave to
one tycoon, and said in future most government contracts will be
awarded through open tender.
Shahrir sees in Badawi a return to the old values of
Malaysia's second prime minister, Abdul Razak, who in the 1970's
envisaged a program of gradual social reform rather than big
projects and big business that Mahathir indulged.
"The question is whether Badawi can drive the anti-corruption
campaign at the highest level," says Khoo Boo Teik a political
scientist at Penang's Universiti Sains Malaysia.
By Asian standards, Malaysia is not too bad, but the Berlin
based Transparency International reckoned it is still a touch
worse than Italy in terms of graft.
"Mahathir was not corrupt. The trouble was he tolerated
corruption too much," said one well-known personality in the
Malay political establishment, whose star fell soon after the
change in premiership.
But he doubted whether Badawi and his young team will be
strong enough to change the system.
Like many people, he believed Badawi will last for one term at
most before handing over to Najib Razak, the defense minister who
was seen as a potential challenger before being made deputy prime
minister earlier this month.
Badawi's first cabinet reshuffle left all the old faces in
place, though he went outside politics to give Nor Mohamed
Yakcop, a central banker with an unsullied reputation, the
powerful second finance minister spot.
Badawi will pick a cabinet he can call his own only after an
election, expected sometime between late March and early May.
The multicultural Barisan Nasional coalition is assured of
victory. But UMNO, which leads the alliance, needs to win back
Malay votes lost in 1999 for Badawi to be confident.
"He's smart enough not to change anything right now. He'll
change after the election comes around," said Shahrir.
Political analysts don't expect Badawi to do anything about
Anwar Ibrahim any time soon. Last week, judges again refused to
release the imprisoned opposition hero on bail.
"What is Mr Nice Guy talking about -- that we are a free and
fair democracy is sheer hypocrisy," Anwar said in a courtroom
outburst referring to Badawi by one of his nicknames.
The former deputy prime minister was sentenced to jail for 15
years on abuse of power and sodomy convictions after challenging
Mahathir in 1998.
But the Anwar case aside, Malaysia's new prime minister has
done some very unMahathir-like things, confounding cynics who
thought he would be Mahathir's puppet.
Even the preachers who lead the Islamist opposition struggle
to find fault.