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I'll Do It My Way
Without Anwar or the global economy, Mahathir goes it alone
[09/14/1998] |
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| JOHN STANMEYER/VII FOR TIME |
| MORAL FIBER: Softspoken Abdullah's religious background has won him the support of many Malay voters |
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| A New vision for Malaysia |
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Malaysians expected Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be cautious, but he has quickly emerged as a bold reformer |
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By Simon Elegant Kangar |
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Posted Monday, March 15, 2004; 21:00 HKT
Makcik Esah is tired. It's nearly 10:30 p.m. in Kangar, a country town on Malaysia's northwestern coast, the night is hot and humid, and the man she has been patiently waiting for hours to see, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is late. But neither Esah, a 60-year-old rice farmer, nor any of the several thousand other people present are budging from their plastic chairs, which are tightly packed under a large white tent pitched on a field in the center of town. Finally, Abdullah arrives, moving slowly down the center aisle of the tent toward the podium, grasping rows of outstretched hands as he goes. His speech—given without notes—is classic Abdullah, much of it delivered in an easy avuncular style laced with a few self-deprecating jokes about his inability to be on time. Before long, Abdullah warms to the subject of how and why Malaysia is the most economically advanced Islamic nation in the world. Islam encourages Muslims to pursue economic development, he says, citing three verses from the Koran to bolster his thesis, two of them delivered from memory in the original Arabic.
Esah, a devout Muslim, says she has voted for the opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) in every election since 1974. But when Malaysia goes to the polls on March 21, she will cast her ballot for the government, she says—and for one reason only: Abdullah. She likes the Prime Minister's religious pedigree—his father and grandfather were both Islamic scholars, and Abdullah himself has a degree in Islamic studies—and the way he balances religious duty with an emphasis on economic development. "His religious background is ample," says Esah, "and he also seems a good man, decent, soft-spoken and courteous."
Malaysia's upcoming general election is turning into a referendum on Abdullah. Though the 64-year-old took over from his long-serving predecessor Mahathir Mohamad only four months ago, he has already, to the surprise of many Malaysians, dramatically altered the country's political landscape. Belying his reputation for caution—Abdullah spent 12 years in the civil service before entering politics and retains a distinct bureaucratic taste for lengthy policy discussions and consensus decisions—the new Prime Minister has moved aggressively to address a range of neglected issues that have long been the subject of popular concern: widespread corruption, rising crime, reform of the police. Abdullah has also curbed what was once the routine awarding of big government contracts to select businessmen, and has managed to put Muslim fundamentalists on the defensive through his own strong but moderate Islamic credentials. He has sought to counter stagnation and cronyism in his own party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), forcing out an unexpectedly large number of Old-Guard incumbents and replacing them with younger candidates. His reformist drive has left the opposition with no issues to use in their election campaign, a confident Abdullah told TIME in an interview last week at his modest family home near the coastal city of Penang: "There are little complaints here and there, but nobody bothers about them because I am addressing all these problems."
Abdullah has good reason to be confident. The National Front government coalition—which is led by UMNO and in one form or another has ruled the country since independence in 1957—is almost certain to retain its two-thirds majority in the federal Parliament. Still, because of the nature of Malaysia's complex multiethnic politics, even fairly small shifts in the current balance of power could translate into far-reaching changes for the nation.
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