Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi (born November 26, 1939 in Tampin, Negeri Sembilan) is the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is also the President of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest political party in Malaysia, and leads the governing Barisan Nasional parliamentary coalition. He is informally known as Pak Lah. He succeeded Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad.
After Mahathir sacked Anwar Ibrahim he appointed Abdullah Deputy Prime Minister. Abdullah succeeded Mahathir as Prime Minister in 2003. Abdullah's administration is riddled with controversies concerning the independence of Parliament and Judiciary. Although Abdullah was elected in 2004 with a huge mandate, he failed to fulfill his election pledge to seriously fight corruption or crime. Both these ills remain rampant under his administration.
In 2005 Mahathir began challenging Abdullah on a number of issues, such as the protection of Proton, the flagship national car manufacturer, and the distribution of approved permits for importing foreign-manufactured vehicles. Later in 2006, Mahathir asserted that Abdullah had betrayed his trust, citing the projects and policies which Mahathir introduced but Abdullah scrapped, such as the construction of a bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore which would replace the existing causeway. |