POLITICS-MALAYSIA: New PM Must Overcome Credibility Deficit

• Analysis by Baradan Kuppusamy (kuala lumpur)
• Thursday, March 26, 2009
• Inter Press Service

Abdullah's successor, Najib Razak, comes to office at a time when the economy is reeling under recession, tainted by corruption scandals and his alleged links to the grisly murder of a Mongolian woman in October 2006.

Although Najib has strenuously denied any links to the murder public perception condemns hims and he is the first of Malaysia’s prime ministers to take office under such a heavy cloud.

Opposition lawmakers and human rights activist also worry that as Najib fights to consolidate power and defeat the opposition, the country would enter a long period of repression.

They said Najib’s hard line policies are already evident in the banning of pro-opposition periodicals, a power grab in Perak state, the arrest of opposition lawmakers and increasing reliance on the police to curb legitimate dissent.

‘’We are entering a nightmare period as Najib takes over,’’ said Lim Kit Siang, opposition lawmaker and senior leader of the opposition Democratic Action Party. ‘’The repression has already started,’’ he told IPS.

The immediate cause of the rebellion against Abdullah was the poor performance of the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that has ruled in one form or another since independence in 1957.

Although Abdullah opened up democratic space, allowed press freedom and tolerated dissent, he also failed to properly manage and channelise the powerful new forces of dissent that his perestroika had unleashed.

His failure to implement the many reforms he had promised upon taking power in 2004 also came back to haunt him at the Mar. 8, 2008 polls which saw the BN losing its two-third majority in Parliament, as well as five state governments, to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Under pressure from numerous UMNO factions, Abdullah announced in December his intention to retire in March and the handover of power to his deputy Najib.

Abdullah fulfilled his pledge at a major UMNO congress on Mar. 26 and Najib is set to become Malaysia’s sixth prime minister in early April.

The intervening period between Abdullah becoming Prime Minister in 2004 and his departure this week, were years of missed opportunities in tackling rising race and religious disputes, curb corruption and promote transparency and accountability. Political scientist Chandra Muzaffar says one outstanding feature of Abdullah’s legacy is his respect for democratic process despite suffering major setbacks in the Mar. 8, 2008 general elections. ‘’He suffered significant and severe erosion of support and yet accepted the result and took it in his stride,’’ Chandra told IPS. ‘’His actions after Mar. 8 helped in the maturing of the democratic process.’’

Chandra said Abdullah allowed greater space for open debate, tolerance of criticism, media freedom and political awakening than ever before. On taking power in 2003 Abdullah sought to enhance the democratic process, opened up greater space for debate, improve the delivery system and later formed a Royal Commission to suggest ways to improve the battered police force and make it more accountable. Abdullah made early and earnest efforts to combat bureaucratic corruption and improve the public delivery system, sped up approvals, ironed out delays in licensing, procedures and approvals. But for such major reforms to succeed there needed to be decisive leadership, something that Abdullah apparently lacked. The same indecisiveness saw that his measures to curb corruption in politics and business and money politics in UMNO failed to succeed. ‘’He was sincere, he meant well and wanted to do more for the small man but could not push through his vision because he was politically weak,’’ said Ramon Navaratnam, chairman of Transparency International in Malaysia said. While Abdullah succeeded in opening up democratic space for debate, he did not provide the decisive leadership to guide and channel the explosion of divisive views into safe discourse. Like Mikhail Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union with his perestroika, Abdullah presided over a more open society unused to open, contentious debates on race, religion, ethnic relations and the economy, but failed to ride the new wave which eventually carried him away. His perestroika saw Malaysians at odds with themselves on numerous fronts - from temple demolition to religious conversion, a fairer share of the economic wealth. Abdullah’s strength was in opening up society and allowing for greater freedom of debate but by doing that he unleashed contentious forces that have swept him away,’’ said Dr Denison Jayasooria, principal research fellow with the Institute of Ethnic Studies, University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

The new leader Najib is the eldest son of the revered third prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak.

Najib was only 23 when he became a member of parliament and became a minister at 32.

At 56 Najib takes over as Prime Minister at a time of great stress with the country facing its worst ever economic downturn compounded by deep political division, racial and religious strife and a strong opposition on the sidelines scheming to seize power.

For some Malaysians the country is on the brink. Najib is not as charismatic or impressive an orator as his opponent Anwar Ibrahim but he brings three decades of experience in government to the job. Insiders said he has a sharp mind, grasps complex issues easily and understands the bloated bureaucracy like no other leader before. ‘’He would bring decisiveness and intellectual vigour to the job,’’ political scientist Denison Jayasooria told IPS. ‘’But he has a credibility problem that he needs to address and the negative perception that goes with it.’’ ‘’He has a tough job ahead to win the hearts and minds of the people who are angered by his involvement in engineering the collapse of the opposition-ruled Perak state,’’ Denison said.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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