Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times, Barry Wain [best mystery novels of all time .txt] 📗

Dr. Mahathir was unable to do — in fact, he led prayers for the deceased PAS leader Fadzil Mohamad Noor in 2002[27] — and his less adversarial style was more effective and harder to counter. He did not brand PAS leaders "liars" and "hypocrites", as Dr. Mahathir had, and nor did he stage frontal attacks on the ulama. In political terms, when the competition was fiercest for the hearts and minds of the Malay community, PAS had lost the ideal opponent in Dr. Mahathir. Abdullah, with his impeccable religious credentials and sense of restraint, was worrying.

Creatively, Abdullah unveiled the concept of Islam Hadhari, a progressive form of the faith designed to undercut the appeal of PAS's allegedly more dogmatic and less tolerant Islam. Although vague in content — the religious affairs minister described it simply as a balanced approach to life — Islam Hadhari offered a set of principles for Muslims to participate successfully in a globalized economy. Closely associated with Abdullah and his clean reputation, Islam Hadhari was critical because Dr. Mahathir's strategy of trying to outbid PAS on religion had culminated in his declaration in 2001 that Malaysia was already an Islamic state. So it was a case of which Islam was the right Islam: the version pursued by UMNO, or that followed by PAS. With Anwar Ibrahim, the person who had given substance to UMNO's Islamic commitment, still in jail, Abdullah had to Islamize the party anew for its ongoing war with PAS.

The injustice suffered by Anwar was another troubling issue bequeathed by Dr. Mahathir that required deft handling if Malay support were to be recouped. Abdullah could have eased the pressure and undercut PAS and its allies by granting Anwar's request for special parole to go abroad for medical treatment for a back injury, aggravated when beaten in custody in 1998. But in the process of consolidating his own position, Abdullah was reluctant to do anything that might revive Anwar's political fortunes, a calculation that also reflected a degree of personal animosity between them. Instead, Abdullah took the opposite tack to Dr. Mahathir and stopped badmouthing the incarcerated Anwar, hoping his silence and the passage of time would allow the matter to fade away. After meeting secretly with Anwar's wife and learning that his condition was worsening, Abdullah ordered that Anwar be transferred from prison to a government hospital.[28] The Malaysian Federal Court's decision in September 2004, overturning Anwar's conviction for sodomy, lanced the boil, as one commentator put it, from Abdullah's standpoint: Anwar was free, but was not allowed to run for office for four years because his corruption conviction still stood.[29]

But while Abdullah enjoyed the praise heaped on him by international human rights and legal organizations over Anwar's release, Dr. Mahathir seethed. He called a press conference and declared he was "mildly surprised" by the court's decision. The clearest indication that he was deeply upset, however, was the presence at his side of his wife and three of their children, a most unusual event.[30] Later, Dr. Mahathir said he still believed Anwar was guilty.

With Malaysia's external relations, as in domestic affairs, the relaxed Abdullah found that a smile and a warm greeting went a long way. In the case of Singapore, Australia and the United States, a prime ministerial hand extended in friendship amounted to no less than a diplomatic breakthrough after Dr. Mahathir's prickly nationalism. Apart from the intrinsic value of being on polite terms with allies and neighbours, Malaysia realized practical gains by reducing the animus in contacts with them.

Abdullah lost no time in making a courtesy visit to Singapore, signalling that he wanted an end the impasse in their relations. He suggested they settle the easiest of their differences first and not let the hardest hold the rest hostage. "We have to pluck some low-hanging fruits before the musang," a nocturnal civet cat, "comes and takes them away," he said. For Singapore, it was vindication of a decision taken years earlier "to sit things out" until Dr. Mahathir had departed.[31] The improvement in atmospherics opened the way for two-way strategic investments, with Temasek Holdings, a Singapore state-owned investment company, leading a surge of capital northward. Four months after Abdullah took over, his government approved Temasek's purchase of a 5 per cent stake, valued at RM1.6 billion, in national phone utility Telekom Malaysia.

Similarly, Abdullah transformed relations with Australia by ending almost overnight what one Australian correspondent called "two decades of bilateral cold war". The two countries agreed to annual consultations between their foreign ministries and senior officials, with Abdullah making the first official visit to Australia by a Malaysian prime minister in 20 years.

In repairing contacts with the United States, Malaysia's largest trading partner and foreign investor, all Abdullah had to do, again, was substitute civil discourse for Dr. Mahathir's point-scoring on behalf of the developing and Islamic worlds. The Malaysians disagreed with Washington over the invasion of Iraq and some other issues, and that would not change regardless of who was in office in Kuala Lumpur. But pragmatic and interested in tangible returns, Abdullah travelled to America in mid-2004, met President George W. Bush and declared their ties "very strong".

Concerned about competition from Thailand and Singapore, which were negotiating free-trade agreements with the United States, Abdullah signed up for one himself. Dr. Mahathir had displayed considerable wariness about such pacts, arguing that in an era of globalization they mainly benefited the powerful industrial economies. He criticized Singapore for entering a free-trade agreement with New Zealand because, he said, it weakened the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and might allow Australian and New Zealand products access to the ASEAN market by the back door. While Malaysia under Dr. Mahathir had begun discussions with China and Japan on free-trade arrangements, Abdullah accelerated the process and tried to make up for lost time. He widened the discussions to include Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Chile, as well as the United States.

Keen to seek endorsement for his reformist programme before the end of the