KUALA LUMPUR : They call him "Mr Nice Guy",
but Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will need more than charm to fill the
big shoes left by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad when
he puts on his retirement slippers
Friday.
Within a year, probably much sooner, he will
face an election, with his main opposition coming from hardline
Islamists bent on turning multicultural, economically vibrant Malaysia
into an Islamic state.
Mahathir, 77, has been in power for so long
that nobody, in the absence of opinion polls, can be quite sure
how his departure will affect his United Malays National Organisation
(UMNO), lynchpin of the ruling National
Coalition.
Abdullah, 63, has not made it any easier, refusing
to be drawn on how he might try to change Malaysia when he takes
over. He has pledged to continue his mentor's policies, but there
is no doubt the style will be different.
Mahathir is outspoken and confrontational while
Abdullah is seen as quieter, a team player.
Analysts say Abdullah, who has no experience
in economic management, is unlikely to change any of Mahathir's
business policies which have brought dramatic growth to the country.
His regional foreign policy is likely to focus
on enhancing political ties and trade with Southeast Asian nations
and Japan, and it is possible he will be less critical of Australia,
one of Mahathir's favourite whipping boys.
On the wider international stage he will probably
find major trading partners in the United States and the European
Union delighted to have a less prickly customer to deal with.
Domestically, analysts hold out little hope
for improvement on human rights issues, for which Mahathir was regularly
criticised.
As home minister, a title he held along with
deputy prime minister, Abdullah has over the past two years approved
the detention without trial of scores of alleged Muslim militants,
many suspected of membership in the regional Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist
network.
Abdullah's major legitimate political challenge
will come from the opposition Islamic Party (PAS), a hardline Muslim
group which wants to introduce Sharia criminal law, complete with
amputations for theft and stoning
to death for adultery.
Abdullah has strong religious credentials, having
majored in Islamic studies at University Malaya, but this is unlikely
to make much impression on the country's more militant Muslims as
long as he upholds the secular nature of the constitution.
Malaysia, a humid, jungle-clad Southeast Asian
nation bordering Singapore, is sometimes described as the world's
most economically successful Islamic state, and Abdullah made it
clear in an interview with AFP that he intends to keep it that way.
The biggest picture on the wall of his office
seemed designed to reinforce Abdullah's reputation as "Mr Nice
Guy" -- showing him bowing low to kiss his mother's hand on
the day he was appointed deputy prime minister in 1999.
But in the waiting room visitors were faced
with a different image -- Abdullah with clenched fist raised in
classic politician's pose.
Whether the kiss or the fist will dominate when
he takes over remains to be seen.
Abdullah is candid about the problems he faces
in a multicultural society with radical Islamists on one side and
an economically-powerful Chinese minority on the other.
Beneath the picture of his humility before his
mother is a large tank containing a single flowerhorn fish, a Chinese
symbol of good luck.
It is not clear whether it is there simply for
its beauty, as a mark of respect to Malaysia's multiculturalism,
or as an acknowledgement that he is going to need a bit of luck
to step successfully into Mahathir's shoes. - AFP
