New Malaysian premier set for 1st visit to White House

By Rafael D. Frankel
Special to the Tribune
Published July 17, 2004

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- When Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi makes his first visit to the White House on Sunday, President Bush will be meeting with a man known at home more for what he is not than what he is.

Such is the fate of the successor to Mahathir Mohamad, who retired in October after 22 years as prime minister. But in Malaysia and around the world, people are breathing a sigh of relief after two decades of Mahathir's rhetoric taking a toll even as he retained broad political support at home.

It is the lack of that often-tactless oration that most distinguishes Abdullah, 64, from Mahathir, diplomats and political figures say. Nearly everyone agrees that it is a welcome change of pace.

"We had a person who was so domineering," said Steven Gan, editor in chief of the Malaysian news Web site Malaysiakini. "This guy is willing to listen instead of shoving his ideas down your throat."

Though "Pak Lah," or Uncle Abdullah, as he is called here, spent a brief stint in opposition to Mahathir in the 1980s, Abdullah is a man of Malaysia's old guard, and many here feel that means political change can only come slowly.

"Malaysia is like a big tanker: It takes a heck of a long time to change direction," said Karim Raslan, a lawyer and political writer. "You get swamped by the sheer weight of trying to move all [the old politicians]."

While Mahathir is out of the picture, Abdullah is surrounded with many of the same people from the previous administration who drew charges of cronyism under his predecessor.

Upon assuming office, Abdullah promised to tackle corruption and improve transparency in government contracts--two of the main complaints voiced by nearly all Malaysians under Mahathir. Two minor political figures were arrested on corruption charges, but no big names have been taken down despite what diplomats and opposition figures say is sufficient evidence to do so.

Both supporters and foes of Abdullah's government acknowledge that, personality aside, little has changed. Though local journalists say Malaysia is inching its way to a free press, reporters here do not enjoy the freedoms of other countries in the region such as the Philippines and Indonesia.

"He's basically a continuation of Mahathir in terms of policy and the repressive rules and law that we have in Malaysia," said Syed Azman, a Central Committee member of the Islamic opposition party PAS.The continuation of the Internal Security Act, which allows the indefinite detention of anyone deemed a national security threat, and the imprisonment of Anwar Ibrahim, a popular opposition figure jailed by Mahathir in 1999, shows Malaysia is "still a mostly closed, politically repressive society," Syed said.

Whether most Malaysians want substantial change is a different story.

"Malaysians look south and see the problems Indonesia has had with democracy and say, `We don't want that.' And they look east to the Philippines and say, `We don't want that either,'" a Western diplomat here said. "The model they like the most is Singapore."

"The bottom line is that this is a majority Muslim country that works," said Raslan.

A moderate Muslim country that strongly supports the U.S.-led war on terrorism but strongly opposes the Iraq war, Malaysia's rapid economic development over the past few decades has propelled the country to become a major trading partner of the United States.


©2004 The Chicago Tribune