Najib Razak takes over in Malaysia By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

   Abdullah Badawi

Najib Razak

I

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has resigned, paving the way for his deputy Najib Razak to take over. Abdullah and Najib met King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin for successive audiences at the palace to seal the long-planned transition. King  accepted the the decision of Badawi. Abdullah, whose Umno party (the United Malays National Organization) suffered in polls last year, announced earlier that he planned to quit on April 02 Thursday, transferring power to Najib Razak, who earlier took over as party leader. A controversy has dogged Najib. In the general election of last March, the ruling coalition lost its usual two-thirds majority in parliament. However, it did get 139 MPs in the 222-seat body, giving it a simple majority, but the opposition demanded the resignation of the government stating a simple majority is not good enough for a democracy.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was handpicked to succeed Malaysia's ruler of two decades, Mahathir Mohamad, when he stepped down in October 2003. He had a reputation as a clean administrator and a tough negotiator, but many wondered if he could emerge from the shadow of his commanding predecessor. Six months after taking office,  Abdullah won a landslide victory in snap general elections, and used that mandate to embark upon a program of reform. But his popularity ebbed as he failed to make good on elections promises, particularly on a pledge to tackle corruption. Amid rising ethnic tensions and economic worries, his coalition won the March 2008 election, but it did so with its worst result in five decades. He struggled to recover from the blow but finally bowed to pressure, and in October he announced he would step down in March 2009.

Recently, with a view to accelerating his party, Abdullah gave a strongly worded warning to the party congress. He said Unmo would perish unless it stopped suppressing dissent, jailing opponents and discriminating against Malaysia's minority Chinese and Indian communities. Najib said last year he would do more to address their grievances. Anger has been growing over laws that favour the Malay majority in business and education.

Najib Razak was long expected to take office in March when Abdullah Badawi, would step down. His arrival will follow a turbulent period in Malaysia, which has seen an opposition electoral revival, growing political conflict and protests from angry minority groups. Najib acknowledged that Malaysian voters would want to see changes when he took office and that he needed to regain the trust of non-Malays in particular. However Najib warned that the Hindu activist network, Hindraf, which has organised large public protests, has undermined the national prestige and integration and also complicated attempts to tackle the problems of ethnic Indians. "In a system of democracy you've got to have an opposition and we hope it is an opposition that engages in healthy constructive politics, he said, I hope that they will not get involved in the unethical exploitation of any issue just to get more support from the people."

Abdullah Badawi will be remembered for allowing more public freedom than his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad. The Umno party, in power since independence in 1957, also faces internal divisions as well as a strong opposition challenge. Opposition has been demanding the resignation of Badawi government. In spite of all his efforts, he was seen as failing to fulfil his promises to eradicate corruption, reform the judiciary and strengthen the police and civil service.

II

UMNO leads the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition which has ruled Malaysia for more than half a century since the former colony gained independence from Britain in 1957. However, last year it put up its worst electoral performance for 39 years, leading to calls for Abdullah to step down. The coalition of race-based parties -- which also represent ethnic Chinese and Indian communities -- were mauled by the opposition led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. The opposition seized an unprecedented one third of seats in parliament and now controls four states.

According to the King, Najib will take over as prime minister on Friday, the April 03.. He said he would reveal details Friday of the direction he wanted to take Malaysia amid economic crisis and political uncertainty, with the core of his roadmap being a programme aimed at uniting the multi-racial nation. Meanwhile, a controversy has arisen to block Najib from becoming the next premier. He has described allegations concerning the murder of a Mongolian woman in the October 2006, Altantuya Shaariibuu, as "malicious baseless lies". Ms Shaariibuu had accompanied Najib as a translator when he, as defense minister, negotiated a controversial submarine deal in France in 2002. Two policemen who used to be in his protection team are on trial for the killing of the 28-year-old while one of Najib's senior aides admitted having an affair with the woman. One of Najib's political associates Abdul Razak who has admitted to an affair with Ms Shaariibuu, was put on trial for the murder but was acquitted. Najib criticized the tactics of the political opposition which, with malicious motives, has tried to link him to the murder of a Mongolian translator in 2006.

III

Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third largest economy, has been hit by slumping exports and manufacturing, with more than 26,000 people losing their jobs so far this year. A slew of economic data for January underlined the scale of the problem. Industrial output fell 20.2 percent year-on-year, manufacturing sales sank 22.7 percent and exports plunged 27..8 percent to hit their lowest level since 2001.

Najib said the government would be more careful in future about the way it uses the security laws following anger over the recent detentions of several government critics, including a well-known blogger and a member of parliament. On the global economic crisis, Najib said Malaysia would be hit by some of the problems, but was better placed to cope than many other countries because of reforms introduced following the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.

As present finance minister, Najib unveiled a stimulus package worth 16.2 billion US dollars earlier this month, but warned that the export-driven economy could shrink by 1.0 percent this year despite the massive spending.  Najib faces an enormous challenge to rejuvenate his UMNO party, which has floundered since disastrous election results last year, and cushion the country from the worst effects of the global meltdown.

Hindus in India want every thing for themsleves exclusivley, leaving nothing for minolrities, espcially the Muslims whom Indiai has converted into a mere vote bank, while in Malaysia and elsewhere in the world where Hindus have sizeable number, try to coerce the goveremnts to squeeze maximum for them saying India is a democracy and Hindus are great. That is Indian funny securlaism, buut the Hindus are allowed more than what they can cheew in Malaysia and one does not know how it hapoend there and who are the culprits.

New incumbent premoier Najib Razak will also face his first big test as prime minister next Tuesday with three by-elections that will be seen as a referendum on his fledgling leadership. Najib's challenge would be, asides the neceaary economic resurge and to contain the anti-Malaysian rhetoric of the oppositon parties,  also to unite the fractured elements of the party and make it as popular as it was before the last poll.

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Yours Sincerely,

DR. ABDUL RUFF Colachal

Columnist & Independent Researcher in World Affairs, The only Indian to have gone through entire India
South Asia.