Why Abdullah is clinging on
September 21, 2008 Sunday, 12:23 PM
Reme Ahmad on why Malaysia’s PM won’t and can’t step down yet.

A QUESTION that I have been asked again and again since the March general elections is this: Why doesn’t Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi just quit?

He did promise Malaysians improved policing, a better judiciary system, and better rule of law, opening up the media, reduce corruption, etc.

Sadly, under him, crime has jumped, the judiciary remains shaky, the tough Internal Security Act law had just been unleashed again, the mainstream media is used to spin stories not write facts, and corruption seems to have gotten worse.

Added to these — race relations and the economy have also taken a beating.

There are actually good reasons, from his perspective, why he does not want to step down quickly.

* Umno is in a mess, with the ground angry, confused and scared of losing power.

* The civil servants are in disarray too on whether, and how far, they should help these four Pakatan states or not. I said four, and not five, because after 18 years under PAS, federal civil servants in Kelantan know how to play the game.

But one word, perhaps, sums up what he why he wants to stay on – Legacy.

(Of course, there is also a very good reason why he SHOULD step down also – namely, so that Umno could re-unite under a stronger leader, Deputy PM Najib Razak).

But look at it from Datuk Seri Abdullah’s point of view – he cannot afford to step down now.

Or else he would be forever seen in the history books as the prime minister who did almost nothing.

Yes, he launched all those corridors.

Yes, he did somehow, and without having real control, did open up the media space.

But he would want to go down in history as having achieved something tangible, something solid even.

Don’t we all?

Put yourself in his position – would you leave when you see things are not right?

He sees himself as a responsible person who should put things right first.

The unkind view would be that he did not want to step down because the people behind him, the so-called Level 4 boys, want him there so that could remain in power too.

And that those who wanted to cling on include his family who are allegedly also profiting him staying his power.

But to appreciate how PM Abdullah looks at himself, let us look at the contributions of the past prime ministers, and the great titles given to them by some people:

No. 1 – Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Father of Independence

For whatever his detractors may say after the 1969 race riots and he might have failed to do etc, he did get Malaysia its independence.

You cannot talk about Malaysia’s independence without showing that famous picture of Tunku shouting ‘Merdeka’ while a couple of white men dignitaries sat behind him, power handed over smoothly.

No. 2 – Tun Razak Hussein, Father of Development

The second prime minister, set up the New Economic Policy in 1971.

He is the father of deputy prime minister, Najib Razak, the man who could be prime minister very soon.

The policy has been much abused today by Umno, but it certainly helped to raise millions of middle class Malays.

The NEP backed poor Malays with financial aid so they could study abroad or locally, gave them top jobs (even though they might not be the most qualified), and even handed them cheap shares as Chinese companies which wanted to list on the stock exchange must have 30 per cent Bumiputra partners.

Of course, the Chinese and other minorities are angered by this, but it did help raise the middle class Malays today.

And Tun Razak, in trying to eradicate poverty among Malays, pushed Felda (Federal Land Development Authority), a legacy that helped Malays to own millions of hectares of plantation land – mostly palm oil and rubber. Some call him Father of Development.

No. 3 – Tun Hussein Onn, Father of Unity

He stood firmly behind the unity of the races and how to work the economy to achieve this, earning him the title Father of Unity.

He launched Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN), or the national unit trust scheme.

He also pushed the concept of Rukun Tetangga (Neighbourhood Watch scheme), where villages and residents of in town areas take turns to guard their neighbourhood. It was quite multi-racial in nature, in that neighbours from the various communities worked together in this scheme, from what I remembered.

No. 4 – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Father of Modernisation

He led for a record 22 years. He changed Malaysia from a rural economy dependent on rubber and tin to an industrial nation and the 17th biggest trading nation in the world.

Father of Modernisation is an apt title for him.

Though it must be noted (and many have these days) that the press was increasingly muzzled, and the judiciary lost its independence during his time.

And corruption in politics, like corruption in business, and the cosy ties between business and politics, just grew and grew.

Still, to many ‘men-in-the-street’ types, it was during his premiership that middle class Malaysians own houses and two cars.

THE COUNTDOWN HAS STARTED

Now let us return to why PM Abdullah is not quitting.

He had said he will contest the December Umno elections and wanted to exit only in mid-2010, and that too under pressure.

He might now not contest the December polls and might quit before that.

Reverse a few days earlier, and people would remember him saying he wanted to ‘put things right’ before passing on the baton to Deputy PM Najib.

Obviously, he does not want to be known as the fifth Prime Minister, but the first one that did not have anything to show for it.

The Premier with no Legacy.

How then would we remember him?

Making a joke that he would be remembered as Father of Kamaluddin and Father (in-law) of KJ, is easy enough.

Kamaluddin is his multimillionaire businessman son, while KJ, Khairy Jamaluddin is his politically-ambitious son in law.

So Mr Abdullah had indeed needed the two years to 2010 to stamp his name on policies and issues.

He did promise Malaysians improved policing, a better judiciary system, and better rule of law, opening up the media, reduce corruption, etc.

Sadly, under him, crime has jumped, the judiciary has not remains shaky, the tough Internal Security Act law had just been unleashed again, the mainstream media is used to spin stories not write facts, and corruption seems to have gotten worse.

Added to these — race relations and the economy are have also taken a beating.

And it is a pity that, from what Malaysians have seen in the last five years, few people seriously think that he could do anything at all.

They say: If he could not and did not achieve anything while he was strong, how could he do it now when he is much weakened?

And today, sadly, almost everyone has started their countdown to his exit.