One year on, Abdullah shares his experiences with media
One year on, Abdullah shares his experiences with media
Vijay Joshi, Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia's prime minister, who completed one year in office on Sunday, says the toughest decision he had to make since taking over was to halt major infrastructure projects of his mentor and predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.
In an interview with the New Sunday Times newspaper published on Sunday, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 64, also said his other most difficult problem has been confronting the spiraling oil prices, which are eating away into development resources.
All Malaysian newspapers published special supplements on Sunday to hail the first anniversary in office of Abdullah, who has endeared himself with Malaysians of all races with his soft- spoken manner, a contrast to the flamboyant and paternalistic style of Mahathir.
Although Abdullah - a devout Muslim who says his favorite reading is the Koran - does not have the charisma of Mahathir, he has stamped his authority over the government with some bold decisions.
The most important of those have been putting a halt to major infrastructure projects that Mahathir had championed, including a US$14.5 billion (euro 11.6 billion) railway plan.
During Mahathir's time, Malaysia became known for grand ventures such as the ultramodern Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Putrajaya, the new administrative capital of Malaysia and the 88-story Petronas Twin Towers, once the tallest office building in the world which was overtaken by a skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan one year ago.
Asked what was the single most difficult decision he had to take in the last one year, Abdullah said: "It was the decision to reduce infrastructure projects and therefore deny many people, especially the contractors, new jobs."
But the decision had to be made because the government needs to reduce its fiscal deficit. "It would be bad if as finance minister I did not make the painful decision that would ensure that in the longer term, the whole country would benefit."
But that doesn't mean the government will stop all spending, he said.
"This would lead to contractions and would be disastrous for the economy. Being prudent is one thing but if there is no growth, there will be another problem. That is why we are committed to reducing the deficit but in a gradual manner," he said.
"Of course we will continue to spend on infrastructure projects because better infrastructure means better quality of life for the people, and this is what we want."
The deficit was 5.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2003 and is targeted at 3.3 percent this year.
He said his other biggest worry is how to deal with the rising cost of oil. "As you know, petrol (gasoline) subsidies are rising at an alarming rate. Every ringgit given as subsidy takes away from money that would be allocated for development," Abdullah said.
Even though Malaysia is a net oil exporter, it keeps the domestic gasoline price artificially low by subsidizing the cost. Malaysia plans to spend some US$3.7 billion (euro 3 billion) on such subsidies over the next 12 months.
Abdullah's one year office was also remarkable for allowing greater democratic space, evident in the surprise release of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim from prison.
He was jailed on sodomy and corruption charges in 1998 after being fired during a power struggle with Mahathir. He won an appeal against the sodomy charge but the corruption charge remained, which he served.
Abdullah did not speak about Anwar during the New Sunday Times interview.
The prime minister, who disclosed that he is partial to vanilla ice cream, joked that he is much more busy now than he ever was in his career.
"I thought this is the time when I can just ask people to do the work and I will just supervise from a distance but it doesn't work that way, I suppose."