A bridge too far for Malaysia's premier

A bridge too far for Malaysia's premier
By Mageswary Ramakrishnan
June 2006


KUALA LUMPUR - A growing tussle between Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his strong-willed predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, has complicated the premier's reform plans and cast a dark cloud over the political scene.


Abdullah rose to power with Mahathir's overt blessing in 2003, and with a promise to reform the links between government and business that characterized Mahathir's 22-year tenure. Nearly three years later, a series of politically charged policy decisions has put the two leaders on a collision course that is testing Abdullah's grip on power.


Abdullah's recent decision to suspend construction of a half-built bridge from Malaysia's Johor province to Singapore reportedly infuriated Mahathir, 80, who made an executive decision to build the massive bridge two months before announcing his resignation in 2003.


Mahathir had earlier promised to inspect the bridge's construction, even if he was no longer in power. His son sits on the board of one of the Malaysian companies involved in the bridge's construction.


Abdullah also recently sacked the chief executive officer of the national car maker, Proton, a well-known Mahathir associate. Mahathir, who currently serves as a senior adviser to the company, publicly condemned the decision. Proton was largely shielded from international competition during Mahathir's tenure, where high tariffs made foreign cars as much as triple the price of Proton's cars. Abdullah has since moved tentatively to reduce those trade barriers.


On his resignation, Mahathir overtly decided against taking on the title of mentor minister, as Lee Kwan Yew did in Singapore to maintain a measure of influence over major government policies. Now that Abdullah's policies have exposed chinks in Mahathir's political legacy, the tough-talking former premier is fighting back with a surprising vengeance.


Mahathir's beefs against Abdullah's government center primarily on the latter's slow but steady drive to dismantle the various nationalistic economic programs Mahathir conceived and built up in pursuit of rapid economic growth. Political insiders say that Mahathir also resents Abdullah's conciliatory diplomatic approach toward Singapore and the West, including the United States - countries with which Mahathir frequently took issue as de facto spokesman for the developing world.


In a recent interview with Malaysiakini, coincidentally the online newspaper his government had raided and frequently harassed, Mahathir vented his anger against Abdullah through a series of not-so-veiled accusations. He opined broadly that the prime minister's family members should not be allowed to conduct business with the government.


The comments were an apparent jab at Abdullah's son, Kamaluddin Abdullah, who is head of the government-linked oil-and-gas company Scomi. Kamaluddin has come under heavy political fire for his alleged involvement in producing parts that were subsequently sent to Libya and deployed as centrifuges in Tripoli's nuclear program. (Libya has since announced it would scrap its nuclear program in an agreement with Washington.)


According to media reports, Kamaluddin claims that he was unaware of how the devices were to be used. However, the prime minister's critics claim that his government has moved to cover up details of the scandal through detaining Sri Lankan businessman Buhary Syed Abu Tahir - one of Kamaluddin's business partners who is also an alleged senior figure in the proliferation network of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan - under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for indefinite detention without trial.


Abdullah signed the detention order, which was not publicly announced, in his capacity as home minister, according to media reports. The use of the ISA against potential government critics for alleged national-security purposes harks to the darkest days of Mahathir's authoritarian rule.


Other government critics note that Abdullah's son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, has rapidly risen to the post of deputy chief of the United Malay National Organization's (UMNO's) youth wing, putting him in line for a future leadership position inside the ruling party.


Broad allegations of nepotism and abuse of power in government, particularly stemming from Mahathir and his supporters, are clearly aimed at undermining Abdullah's reform credentials, even though many of his initiatives have in reality pushed crucial reforms forward.


Waning popularity
Mahathir has aired his complaints and grievances at a time Abdullah's popularity is clearly on the wane. Growing indications are that Abdullah, who won a landslide electoral victory in 2004 on a clean-government ticket, has not been able to stem the systemic government corruption he inherited from Mahathir's administration.


On the economic front, the cost of living is rapidly rising, and street protests against the government's decision to raise fuel prices have become an almost weekly affair. Moreover, an emboldened civil society has called on his government to divulge more information about the finances of Petronas, the national oil-and-gas giant. Political insiders say the strains have led to infighting among Abdullah's senior advisers, and the soft-spoken and fervently religious premier has failed to bridge the growing internal divisions inside his UMNO party.


How many of these allegations are anti-Abdullah spin leveled by his political rivals is difficult to discern. A thick veil of opacity still surrounds the workings of government, a holdover from Mahathir's days in power that Abdullah has for whatever reason decided to keep intact.


"If Abdullah has been making reforms, the results are not seen. It's something I cannot see myself. It's one of his weaknesses," said Mohammad Agus Yusoff, a senior Kuala Lumpur-based political scientist.


Increasingly, Abdullah is being portrayed as a slow and indecisive leader - in direct contrast to the firebrand, can-do image Mahathir carefully crafted for himself. Abdullah's critics point in particular to his recent flip-flop on the government's policy toward illegal migrant workers, a lightning-rod political issue here. First Abdullah announced a crackdown, then called it off without explanation. "Abdullah's most telling weakness is his inability to make decisions," said a local political reporter, requesting anonymity.


Abdullah has also been slighted both by his supporters and by his critics for his inability to shake up the political status quo, which he boldly vowed to do while on the 2004 election trail. Abdullah's cabinet notably returned many discredited politicians, many of whom are known to have direct ties to Mahathir.


"Abdullah's cabinet lineup shocked the nation," said political scientist Mohammed Agus. "Ministers whose reputation has taken a serious whack due to graft are still there."


Perhaps most troubling is Abdullah's apparent willingness to crack down on dissent, eerily similar to the oppressive tactics Mahathir used to stay in power unopposed for more than 22 years. Abdullah in January ordered the sacking of two editors of a Chinese-language daily newspaper, representing a crude and direct intervention in the workings of the press.


The newspaper stood accused of wrongly identifying as a Chinese national a woman who was caught on camera being strip-searched by security personnel. Abdullah's government had apologized to Beijing over the incident based on information in the news reports.


"People thought he would be different, more tolerant of dissenting views," said the news reporter, adding: "All that was mere lip service."


With such reform setbacks, and with Mahathir nipping at his heels, Abdullah's political clout is waning inside UMNO. His proposal to form an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) was openly rejected by the UMNO-controlled parliament and many top-ranking police officers have threatened to resign if the new body is created. Police officers have also publicly vowed they will vote for opposition candidates at the next general elections in 2008 if the IPCMC is implemented.


Faced with such opposition, Abdullah has since gone quiet on one of the Malaysia's most pressing reform issues: police reform. "His attitude now shows, quite clearly, he has no voice, no power," a civil-rights activist who supports the IPCMC legislation said on condition of anonymity. "He is a weak prime minister."


Less than two years into his term, Abdullah's ability to effect political change has clearly diminished. As Mahathir and his supporters go on the offensive against his government, Abdullah will need to spend valuable political energy just to maintain his grip on power, leaving him less time and clout to dismantle the political and economic system Mahathir built and Abdullah had once boldly vowed to change.


Mageswary Ramakrishnan is a Kuala Lumpur-based journalist.