Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times Barry Wain (grave mercy .TXT) 📖

earlier had signed letters of intent with units of their state rail companies and Malaysian partners to build the railway.

While government officials insisted that Abdullah's flip, following Dr. Mahathir's flip-flop, was not directed at any particular person or company and did not represent a rejection of Dr. Mahathir's policies, business executives and political analysts read it otherwise. Budget constraint was certainly a valid concern: After six straight years of deficit spending, Dr. Mahathir had left the country bleeding red ink. Overspending reached its peak near the end of his tenure, when the government blew almost its entire RM110 billion development budget for 2001-2005 in the first three years. In his last budget speech, Dr. Mahathir added a further RM50 billion for development in 2004-2005.[21] Inheriting a budget deficit for 2003 of 5.5 per cent of gross domestic product, considered worrying by some officials, Abdullah vowed to narrow and gradually close the gap.[22]

But balancing the books was also an excuse for Abdullah, who was bent on jettisoning the entire concept of mega-projects, which symbolized the excesses of the Mahathir era. The railway package had another strike against it, a fatal one, as far as Abdullah was concerned. Like most privatization projects granted under Dr. Mahathir, it had been negotiated privately on unknown terms, without an open bidding process and public disclosure when the award was pending.[23] And like many of the others, it had gone to a businessman widely perceived to be a crony, one who had won a total of RM22 billion in government infrastructure contracts in the past six months.[24] His credibility on the line, Abdullah bit the bullet.

A few weeks later, Abdullah cancelled another privatization venture awarded to Syed Mokhtar: a 60 per cent interest in Southeast Asia's biggest hydroelectric dam, Bakun in Sarawak, which carried a RM6.4 billion price tag, down from the originally projected RM15 billion. Although the dam would go ahead because construction had started, the "think big" credo at the heart of Dr. Mahathir's philosophy was out of fashion, if not dead. "Never mind that I may not build great monuments or glittering cities," Abdullah subsequently told a business group.[25] He said Malaysia needed to return to the basics of economic development, starting with agriculture and agri-based industries.

In another initiative to boost his popularity, Abdullah ordered a searching inquiry into the police force, a move that quietly addressed the wider issue of "institutional degradation", as regional analyst Manu Bhaskaran termed it. Public unhappiness over the performance of the police had long given way to disgust and resignation. At the top, the force had been politicized after serving the same party, UMNO, for more than 40 years, while at street level it had proved ineffective in stemming a rising tide of crime that included everything from murder to rape and armed robbery. As foreign residents complained about a growing sense of insecurity, locals noted an increase in police payoffs, violence and extra-judicial killings.

To indicate he meant business, Abdullah appointed a rarely invoked royal commission, headed by a judge and given sweeping investigative powers, to carry out the review. But the terms of reference contained no mention of corruption, and focused only on general issues such as "the role and responsibility of police in implementing law", organizational structure, and human resources needs. The overwhelming majority of the 16 members of the commission were close to the government or UMNO. They duly delivered a report that savaged the police force, though not until Abdullah had safely navigated his general and party elections.

The spotlight on the police inevitably drew critical attention to other institutions and services that had deteriorated over time. Other sections of the bureaucracy, particularly the education, immigration, customs and transport departments, had slipped. The Election Commission, nominally independent but located within the Prime Minister's Department like the Anti-Corruption Agency, functioned as an arm of the government. Parliament, where the National Front habitually held a two-thirds majority that enabled it to amend the Constitution at will, appeared to be an empty shell, poorly attended by elected members and given little chance to scrutinize vital legislation. Saddest of all, Malaysia's once proud and independent judiciary had fallen into international disrepute after a head-on clash with Dr. Mahathir.

Although he conspicuously took the high moral road in distancing himself from Dr. Mahathir, Abdullah was motivated in large measure by self-interest: no less than political survival. Planning to call an early general election, he needed to win handsomely to face UMNO and confirm his place as president of the party. If he attended UMNO's General Assembly weakened or wounded in any way, he might be challenged for the party's leadership, and there was no guarantee what might happen if factional fighting convulsed the party. With vote buying endemic in UMNO, Abdullah lacked an established financial base if he were tempted, uncharacteristically, to play the money game.

Abdullah's electoral imperative was not just to lead the National Front to another victory. He could do that with minimal effort, since the opposition was not strong or unified enough, and did not have the resources to halt the entrenched, multi-party juggernaut. To secure his position as prime minister and not be considered a seat warmer for some ambitious UMNO rival, however, he needed to recover the support of the Malay majority that was lost in the last general election, after the persecution of Anwar Ibrahim. He had to show that UMNO once again spoke for the Malays. And, to do that, he must abandon some of Dr. Mahathir's unpopular predilections, if not Dr. Mahathir himself.

In the contest for Malay support with the opposition Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), Abdullah held a significant personal advantage over Dr. Mahathir, who had been demonized by the more-religious elements. From one of the most respected Muslim families in Malaysia — his father, grandfather and great grandfather were all prominent Islamic leaders,[26] and he held a degree in Islamic studies — Abdullah was an elusive target for PAS's conservatives. He was able to lead prayers, a significant symbolic act that