Zaid: If only Pak Lah was more Dr M-like, but in a good way

 

(MM) – If Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had taken a leaf out of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s book on being a “fighter”, his short-lived administration could have turned out more successful, former Cabinet minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said today.

But the ex-Umno leader noted that it had never been Abdullah’s style to be “ruthless”, even though a forceful hand would have earned greater respect for himself and his reforms when he was in power.

Umno leaders should have backed Abdullah “100 per cent”, Zaid added, singling out the former prime minister’s efforts in the battle against corruption and his promotion of good governance.

“But they didn’t. Not only they didn’t, they sabotaged him. They ridiculed him,” Zaid told The Malay Mail Online today.

“Pak Lah is not exactly the most ruthless leader. So that also makes it difficult,” he added, using Abdullah’s popular moniker.

“If he could be more Mahathir-like in a good way, if he had been more forceful, more of a fighter, if he had sacked some of his cabinet ministers, I suppose it could have been different. But that’s not him,” he said.

Zaid agreed with the notion that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) losses in Election 2008 were caused by Pak Lah’s alleged failure to refom the country but he singled out Dr Mahathir to blame, saying it was the latter’s “incomprehensible” attacks on his predecessor that led to it.

“People should appreciate what he has done,” Zaid said, referring to Abdullah.

“Dr Mahathir was dismantling Pak Lah’s efforts…when you are trying to reform, it’s not easy. People always distrust reformists. They like the old style,” he added.

Abdullah said in his book titled Awakening, which will be released soon, that Dr Mahathir had led “unwarranted attacks” that led to his eventual ouster.

Although handpicked by Dr Mahathir to be his successor, Abdullah later came under relentless attack from the nation’s longest-serving prime minister and ultimately was forced to relinquish his presidency of Umno and position as prime minister to Datuk Seri Najib Razak in April 2009, after BN lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008.

“Mahathir cannot deny that he contributed to the erosion of BN’s support in the 2008 general election through his open and unwarranted criticism and attacks,” read an excerpt of the book reproduced by news portal Malaysiakini yestesrday.

“Calling my administration, which included a majority of people from his own Cabinet, as a ‘half-past-six government’ and accusing us of corruption and all kind of things,” added Abdullah.

BN won a resounding mandate in 2004 after Abdullah, known as “Mr Clean”, pledged to eradicate endemic corruption and institute political reforms.

But Abdullah’s reforms, such as passing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Judicial Appointments Commission and Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) Acts, came only just months before he stepped down.

Zaid said in Awakening that Abdullah had “miscalculated immensely” when the latter retained many of Dr Mahathir’s supporters in the Cabinet.

“He was probably thinking he could secure public support and minimise Mahathir’s attack on him. But it was not to be, as the attack went into full gear even in the midst of the 2008 general election,” said Zaid in the book.

“Abdullah had support from the grassroots, but not from the Umno warlords. By the time the election results were known, he was already a dead man walking,” he added.

Zaid pointed out that “no complete reforms are possible” as long as Dr Mahathir is around.

“Of course, it was Pak Lah’s own lack of conviction to see them through that did him in,” he added.

The former Umno man noted that the ruling party was averse to reform after being led by a “dictator” for over 22 years.

“But Pak Lah’s reluctance to show his resolve in implementing reforms was fatal. The feudal mindset in Umno knows quickly when a leader is reluctant to fight. Always back the winner; that’s their instinctive reaction,” said Zaid.

Awakening, jointly edited by political analysts Bridget Welsh and James Chin, is due to be launched by Abdullah later this month.