Identity Crisis

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Back to the Future
Malaysiakini has continued its aggressive coverage. The online paper has been particularly influential in investigating massive cost overruns in the building of a free-trade zone at Port Klang, not far from Kuala Lumpur. The latest official figures show that the project has ballooned to about $1.4 billion, more than double what was projected in 1999. Critics contend that graft has plagued the project, undercutting Abdullah's much-vaunted anticorruption drive. "Thus far, Abdullah's promises to curb corruption remain just that: promises," says Ramasamy Palanisamy, a former professor of politics at the National University of Malaysia. At the same time, the PM, who once earned plaudits for cutting back Mahathir's excesses, has signed off on several megaprojects, including a reinstatement of the controversial dam in Borneo.

Concerns about corruption could strengthen the political opposition. The Islamic Party of Malaysia gained control of two of Malaysia's 13 states in 1999 after convincing voters that fighting graft was a fundamental Muslim virtue. The party lost power in one of those states three years ago but is predicting a rebound in next year's polls. Anwar's party is optimistic, too, and has been campaigning on a clean-government platform. Realistically, neither opposition party is strong enough to challenge the ruling coalition. But even a few lost seats would be an embarrassment to a governing élite that has controlled the nation since independence.

Under the rule of the National Front, Malaysia has come a long way. Looking back at the past 50 years, Deputy Prime Minister Najib, himself tipped as a possible future leader of Malaysia, told TIME: "We have arrived. It has been an era of transformation in more than one sense: physical, social, economic." But if the next half-century is to be as uplifting, Malaysia will have to heal the divisions that are now all too evident in its society.