Asia Weekly

People and Politics Asia

Abdullah calls time on leadership

Facing mounting pressure from within his own party, Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has decided not to defend his post in party elections in March 2009, reports The Associated Press. Party leaders had been "demanding new leadership" for the United Malays National Organization after its "worst performance" in general elections last March that saw Anwar Ibrahim's opposition People's Alliance take 82 seats in the 222-member parliament. Abdullah made his decision "after seeking counsel of his closest aides, friends and supporters," The AP cites Malaysia Insider as saying. Abdullah tagged his deputy Najib Razak to replace him, automatically making Najib the next prime minister since he is expected to be "unopposed" when he runs for the party leadership in March. It was reportedly a discussion he had with Najib that led Abdullah to throw in the towel, says Leslie Lopez in The Straits Times (Singapore). "How Najib and the rest got him to change his mind is a mystery to all of us," said an unnamed associate of Abdullah.

Najib might be "congenial enough but he is no leader," says Michael Backman in The Age (Australia). As for Anwar, he is "offering himself as head of an alternative government, but he is proving to be politically incompetent"  because he predicted a government collapse in September that never happened. "At a time when Malaysia needs clever leadership more than ever, the sad choice is between who stinks less." And a stink continues to be raised about the sodomy trial in which Anwar is embroiled, with the Malaysian attorney general ordering the case to be sent to the high court, a move Anwar claims "threatens his right to a fair trail," says Al Jazeera English. Seemingly unfazed, Anwar "won the first round" in the battle to transfer his case after a judge agreed to allow his defence team a chance to object to the transfer in the lower court, writes Hazlin Hassan in The Straits Times. Anwar again said he "still has enough support" to "topple the government," claiming that more than 30 members of the ruling National Front coalition are "willing to defect" to the People's Alliance and break up the ruling alliance, which has been in power since Malaysia won independence from Britain in 1957.

 

 

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