Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
5th Prime Minister of Malaysia
Incumbent
Assumed office  October 31, 2003
Preceded by	Mahathir bin Mohamad
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	November 26 1939 (1939--) (age 67) Kepala Batas, Penang
Political party	Barisan Nasional, UMNO
Spouse	Jeanne Abdullah née Danker Former: Endon Mahmood Ambak (deceased)
Occupation	Civil servant
Religion	Islam Hadhari

Malaysia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Malaysia

Constitution Social contract Yang di-Pertuan Agong Mizan Zainal Abidin Cabinet Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak Parliament Dewan Negara Dewan Rakyat Judiciary The Opposition Elections Election Commission Political parties States Foreign relations

Other countries · Atlas  Politics Portal

Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi^[1] (born November 26, 1939 in Kepala Batas, Penang) is the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is also the President of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest political party in Malaysia, and leads the governing Barisan Nasional parliamentary coalition. He is informally known as Pak Lah. He succeeded Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad.

After Mahathir sacked Anwar Ibrahim he appointed Abdullah Deputy Prime Minister. Abdullah succeeded Mahathir as Prime Minister in 2003. Abdullah's administration is riddled with controversies concerning the independence of Parliament and Judiciary. Although Abdullah was elected in 2004 with a huge mandate, he failed to fulfill his election pledge to seriously fight corruption or crime. Both these ills remain rampant under his administration.

In 2005 Mahathir began challenging Abdullah on a number of issues, such as the protection of Proton, the flagship national car manufacturer, and the distribution of approved permits for importing foreign-manufactured vehicles. Later in 2006, Mahathir asserted that Abdullah had betrayed his trust, citing the projects and policies which Mahathir introduced but Abdullah scrapped, such as the construction of a bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore which would replace the existing causeway.

Early political career

Abdullah was born to a prominent religious family. His father, Ahmad Badawi, was a prominent religious figure and UMNO member. Badawi's maternal grandfather, Ha Su-chiang (also known as Hassan), was a Chinese Muslim who came from Sanya in Hainan.^[2]

Abdullah is a former student of Bukit Mertajam High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies from the University of Malaya in 1964. He originally wished to pursue a degree in Economics but did not meet the required standard after failing his statistics paper.^[3]

After graduation, he joined the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Corps (the formal term for the civil service). He served as Director of Youth at the Ministry of Youth and Sport as well as secretary of the National Emergency Council (MAGERAN). He resigned in 1978 to become the member of parliament for his constituency of Kepala Batas in northern Seberang Perai (which had also been represented by his late father), which he still represents today.

Early during Mahathir's tenure as prime minister, a bitter dispute erupted within the ruling UMNO party and it was divided into two camps, which were colloquially known as 'Team A' comprising Mahathir loyalists, and 'Team B', which supported former Minister of Finance Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam. Mahathir prevailed, leading to the exclusion of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah from the newly-established UMNO (Baru) or New UMNO. Abdullah was a close supporter of his political mentor Musa Hitam in Team B and as a result, the fact is that,Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, won the Apr 1987 Vice Presidential race in UMNO elections. However, because his alliance to 'Team B' then, he was sacked as the Minister of Defense. Yet, he did not join Semangat 46 (Spirit 46) party which was set up by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Semangat 46 is now defunct.

When UMNO (Baru) was formed in Feb 1988, the then UMNO President and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad brought Abdullah Ahmad Badawi into the protem committee of UMNO (Baru) as the Vice President.In 1990, Abdullah retained his Vice Presidency seat. In the Cabinet reshuffle of 1991, Mahathir brought in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi back into the Cabinet as the Foreign Minister. He held this post until Nov 1999 when Syed Hamid Albar took over the role. Even though Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lost his Vice President seat in the UMNO elections of 1993, he was still retained in the Cabinet, and was appointed to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Prior to 1998, he had also served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Minister of Education, Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs. His rehabilitation was complete when he was appointed deputy prime minister and Minister for Home Affairs following the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim.

Premiership

Since coming into power as prime minister, Abdullah Bodowi has promised to clamp down on corruption, giving more power to anti-corruption agencies and making it easier for the public to reveal corrupt practices to the authorities. He has also arrested several public figures from the Mahathir era on charges of corruption, a move which was widely applauded by the public. He has advocated an interpretation of Islam known as Islam Hadhari, which maintains that Islam and economic and technological development are not incompatible. Apart from that, his administration has been emphasizing a revival of the Malaysian agricultural sector.

In the eleventh 2004 general election, Abdullah's first election as the incumbent prime minister, he delivered a stunning victory for his party's coalition Barisan Nasional (of which UMNO is the dominant party) by winning 198 out of 220 seats in parliament, and wrested control of the Terengganu state government back from the Islamist opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), as well as coming close to capturing the traditional PAS stronghold of Kelantan. The victory was widely regarded as an approval of his vision of moderate Islam over religious fundamentalism, and support for his anti-corruption policies.

In September 2004, upon his release from prison, Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister jailed since 1999 by former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, publicly credited Abdullah for not interfering with the judiciary's overturning of his sodomy conviction.

On September 10, 2004, Abdullah Bodowi, as finance minister, tabled his maiden budget, which is seen by the public as being more consolidation and maintenance-oriented as opposed to the growth policies emphasised by Mahathir.

Abdullah is also known for stressing on Malaysia's internal security, after witnessing an increase in corruptive practices, such as bribery in the police force.

Abdullah Bodowi is unofficially known in Malay circles in Malaysia as Pak Lah (Malay diminutive for "Uncle Abdullah"). The Malaysian government has issued a statement that the prime minister should not be referred to by this nickname in official articles and in newsprint; however, the nickname is still used informally. In fact, Abdullah Bodowi himself often uses the nickname to refer to himself in public gatherings.

Abdullah Bodowi continues to be heavily involved in foreign policy. He is the chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, since he became prime minister in 2003. As of 2005, he is also the chairman of ASEAN. He also served as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement from October 2003 until September 2006.

Concerning the giving up of North Korea´s nuclear weapon and missile tests he is sceptical because they are something precious to the country. It will be very difficult to stop these actions.^[4]

50th Anniversary

On August 31, 2007, Prime Minister Abdullah Bodowi shouted 'Merdeka!' meaning 'Independence during the midnight celebrations, where thousands of Malaysians celebrated at Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur, 50 years of nationhood, emulating the actions of the nation's first Prime Minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, having declared independence in 1957 from the British .^[5]

Family

On October 20 2005, Abdullah's wife, Endon Mahmood, died from breast cancer. Endon discovered she had breast cancer in 2003 while her twin sister Noraini who had earlier been diagnosed with the disease died in January 2003. She received treatment in the United States and returned to Malaysia 18 days before her death. She is buried at the Muslim cemetery, at Taman Selatan, Precinct 20, Putrajaya.

On June 6 2007, the Prime Minister's office announced his marriage to Jeanne Abdullah. On June 9, a private ceremony was conducted at the prime minister's residence, Seri Perdana, attended by close relatives. Jeanne was formerly married to the younger brother of Abdullah's late wife. She was also a manager at the Seri Perdana residential complex and has two children from her previous marriage.^[6] Earlier in March that year, the premier dismissed rumours about his plans to remarry.

Economic policies

Abdullah Bodowi declared an end to the economic legacy and grandiose projects of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, during the 57th UMNO General Assembly. He told delegates that he would not pursue the economic strategies adopted two decades earlier by Mahathir.

He said in the past, wealth was generated not by innovation and creativity, but by foreign investment, government contracts and privatization.

Agriculture and biotechnology are some of the highlighted issues in 9MP that the government believes such sectors are still able to generate wealth for many Malaysians, especially those in rural areas.

Under the Mahathir era, the country turned rapidly from an agriculture base economy to an industrialised and manufacturing base. As a result of the turnover, agriculture was sidelined and mega-projects such as Perwaja Steel manufacturing and Bakun dam were mishandled and failed. Petronas which see itself as the most profitable company announced every year should be able to purchase the falling National car company Proton and MAS airlines.

Under the Abdullah Bodowi administration, the country is moving up to a value chain economy by developing its inherent strengths in agriculture without losing its existing manufacturing base. 1

Controversies

President George W. Bush meets with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia during Bush's visit to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, September 18, 2006.

After moves to charge prominent figures such as Eric Chia and Isa Abdul Samad with corruption, Abdullah's administration's efforts to combat corruption became significantly less public. It is disputed as to whether Abdullah is continuing to fight corruption quietly, or has intentionally slowed progress in reducing corruption.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

Wikinews has related news:

Abdullah Badawi

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

• Official Website
• Profile from Official Website
• Profile: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
• The loyal Abdullah wins his rival Anwar's job

Prime Ministers of Malaysia
Tunku Abdul Rahman | Abdul Razak | Hussein Onn | Mahathir Mohamad | Abdullah Badawi

Donate to Wikimedia