A bridge too far for Malaysia's
premier By Mageswary
Ramakrishnan
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.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd.
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