I Thank Abdullah

Note: I wrote most of this post in April last year, shortly after the 2008 general election. I am posting it now because the content kind of befits Abdullah's departure from his tenure as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia, largely due to his loss in the election. While you read please pardon the awkward appearance of "recent election".


Everyone knows what happened on March 8. Some called it the "political tsunami" of Malaysia, while some say that the day will go down the Malaysian history as "the day BN lost".

With the political tsunami receding and the dust settling, enthusiastic commentary mushroomed in both the mainstream media and the blogosphere. Most of these commentaries hail the recent election as a watershed of the Malaysian history and a harbinger of more changes to come, despite the amplitude and pace of change exceeding everyone's expectation. Malaysians all over the country celebrated the victory and their own maturity, and maturity is the apt word here as no unrest broke out while four states changed hands to the opposition. People feared a riot between races on the big night - but many nights have since passed with peace, again to the surprise and comfort of many. Both young and veteran politicians like Tony Pua, Jeff Ooi, Lim Kit Siang and Anwar Ibrahim are now being celebrated as the true voice and the "conscience" of the people. Meanwhile, people like Zainuddin and Samy Vellu are booed off what used to be their stage.

The newfound spirit and optimism going on in our country, in my opinion, have been well-deserved after so many years of corruption and ineffectiveness in BN's governance. Malaysians, especially the older generation who have been pressing for change for decades to no avail, have all the reasons in the world to revel in the much-needed fresh air in our extremism-laden country. Amidst our celebration, however, I feel that people forgot to thank someone in this change - and that person is no other than our Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah is arguably the weakest Prime Minister Malaysia has ever seen, his ineffectiveness especially amplified in contrast to the political finesse of the iron-man he succeeded the helm from. Abdullah was widely believed to be a man of well intention, judging from his seemingly sincere promise to reform the political landscape in the country. In 2004, partly due to his Mr. Nice Man image, he garnered an unprecedented support from Malaysians and helped BN grab an overwhelming 90% seats in the parliament. During the time, even the most hardcore critics ceased fire and anticipated for a positive change from this nice man to exact change within the government. Much was anticipated from him indeed.

Over the years, Abdullah failed to deliver most, if not all of the promised reform. Cronyism thrived as we see Khairy Jamaluddin climb up the ladder of power, capitalising on his father-in-law's power even more effectively than the father-in-law himself. Not only did Abdullah not solve the old problems he inherited from the Mahathir era, in some ways his ineffectual governance catalysed the old problem and generated new ones. Trust in the judiciary system and the police force plunged to a new low.

So, you may ask, what am I thanking Pak Lah for? For what he has done to my beloved country?

Nope, I am not thanking him for what he has done for the country; I am thanking him for what he could have done, but has not done for the country.

Pak Lah has allowed a slightly increased level of press freedom in the country. In Mahathir's era, newspapers were to be closed and executive editors invited for coffee if they were to publish any sort of opinions deemed as anti-government. But under Abdullah's governance, I have seen an increasing amount of opinion pieces critical of government being allowed in mainstream media like SinChew or The Star. Yes there is still the obligatory kowtow to the government in the overall tone of the paper, but they are now increasingly able to give some nods to the opposition every now and then. More coverage is also given to the opposition, especially around the election time. Yes I also know there remains controversy of the Herald about the "Allah" issue, and the blackout of media regarding Islamic State and Meng Chee's negarakuku. But overall, I still thank Abdullah - for what more he could have done to control the media, but hasn't.

Pak Lah has also not clamped down on the dissenting voice in the blogosphere hard enough. Yes there have been the ludicrous blockage of Malaysia Today as well as sporadic harassment of political bloggers; but overall blogosphere thrived under him, and it played a huge role in the democratic progress in the country, however little it might be. For once Malaysians had a little taste of free speech, though it was not as free as it could be.

Inevitably history will judge Abdullah as a weak and ineffective PM, one whose tenure is embarrassingly amongst the shortest in history. In fact his tenure would have been the shortest if not because he managed to delay it so that he has more than one month longer in record than Tun Hessein Onn. However, for all his wrongdoing, I am convinced that he will also be remembered as the guy who did some good through his nonchalance, ineffectiveness, or even good will. By design or by default, Abdullah freed the media, allowed opposition to grow, and gave us a glimpse of hope for a healthy bipartisanship. For that reason alone, he has my gratefulness, as illogical as it might sound.

And I shall try to restrain my trepidation as tomorrow arrives.