Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Abdullah vs Mahathir
Prime Minister Mahathir's successor, Abdullah Badawi, was sworn into office in 2003 and
went on to lead BN to a landslide victory in the following year's election. In stark contrast
to his feisty predecessor, the pious and mild-mannered Abdullah impressed voters by tak-
ing a nonconfrontational, consensus-seeking approach. He set up a royal commission to in-
vestigate corruption in the police force (its recommendations have yet to be implemented)
and called time on several of the massively expensive mega projects that had been the hall-
mark of the Mahathir era, including a new bridge across the Strait of Johor to Singapore.
This decision was the straw that broke the doctor's back, causing the former PM to pub-
licly lambast his successor - an outburst that was largely ignored by the mainstream media.
Mahathir turned to the internet to get his views across and raged against press censorship -
which many found pretty rich given his own autocratic record while in power.
Amir Muhammad's
Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things Vols 1 & 2
(see
www.kinibooks.com
)
gathers to-
gether jaw-dropping statements uttered by the local pollies over the last three decades - including 'If you
come across a snake and a man from a certain ethnic community, you should hit the man first'.
