Introduction

Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi succeeded Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister in Oct. 2003. A less abrasive figure than Mahathir, he espoused moderate Islamic policies and social inclusion. He largely continued Mahathir’s economic policies, making Malaysia’s economy one of the most stable in the region, and sought to improve relations with Singapore after decades of fractiousness between the two countries. Badawi secured another term in March 2008 but with a much reduced majority. This weak showing led to his resignation in April 2009.

Early Life

Badawi was born on 26 Nov. 1939 on the island of Penang. In 1964 he graduated in Islamic studies from the University of Malaya. Badawi then entered the civil service, working in the department for public services until 1969 when he moved to the National Operation Council, which held executive powers after race riots that year. From 1971–73 he served as director general of the ministry of culture, Youth and Sports and in 1974 was made deputy secretary general of the department.

Badawi left the civil service in 1978 to pursue his political ambitions, having joined the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in 1965. His father had been a co-founder of the party. He entered parliament as the member for Kepala Batas and was named parliamentary secretary to the Federal Territory ministry in the government of Mahathir Mohamad. In 1980 he was promoted to deputy minister for the department. From 1981–84 he was minister in the prime minister’s department, then minister of education until 1986, minister of defence from 1986–87 and minister of foreign affairs from 1991–99. In 1999 he was made deputy prime minister with responsibility for home affairs, following the sacking and subsequent imprisonment of Mahathir’s previous deputy, Anwar Ibrahim. Within UMNO, Badawi had become a member of the party’s supreme council in 1981, and was then appointed party vice president 3 years later and party deputy president in 1999.

When Mahathir resigned after 22 years in power, at the end of Oct. 2003, Badawi assumed the premiership.

Career Peak

On taking office, Badawi was regarded as a less controversial figure than his predecessor. With a buoyant Malaysian economy, he announced few major policy changes. In addition to the premiership and home affairs portfolio (part of which he gave up in March 2004), Badawi also took control of the finance ministry.

Having no electoral mandate, Badawi called elections for March 2004. Though expected to win, many observers believed that the nation’s growing Islamic fundamentalist parties (the Islamic Party of Malaysia, or PAS, being the largest) would gain support. The ruling National Front Coalition, of which UMNO is the main element, went on to win by a landslide, with the PAS losing power in one of two states it had previously controlled and only narrowly retaining power in the other. Opposition parties claimed electoral irregularities but failed to provide evidence. Armed with electoral success and a large parliamentary majority, Badawi continued to espouse moderate Islamic politics.

Badawi promised to crack down on the official corruption that blighted much of Mahathir’s tenure. However, opponents were disappointed when many of Mahathir’s key officials were retained in Badawi’s first cabinet. Nevertheless, he deviated from some of the policies of the Mahathir era, for which he was criticized publicly by his predecessor. In March 2006 he introduced a new, multi-billion dollar plan with the goal of helping Malaysia to achieve developed-nation status by 2020. The new plan did not dismantle the longstanding positive-discrimination scheme for ethnic Malays, but did switch emphasis from grand infrastructure projects to tackling rural poverty and promoting education. In the international arena, he pursued closer ties with neighbouring Singapore, although in April 2006 he abandoned plans for a new bridge to the island state (a scheme that Mahathir had championed when in office).

In Nov. 2007, in the largest anti-government protests in almost a decade, thousands of demonstrators marched in Kuala Lumpur demanding reform of the electoral system. The elections of March 2008 were marred by allegations from Badawi’s leading rivals of vote rigging. The National Front Coalition suffered its worst results since the 1960s. Its share of the parliamentary vote fell from two-thirds to a little over a half while at the state level it lost control of five assemblies. Badawi stood down as prime minister on 3 April 2009.