Abdullah's Battlefields

Abdullah's Battlefields

23 July, 2008

By TAY TIAN YAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily

Do you notice that a protagonist seems to have been left out in Anwar's case?

Yes, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi does not show up on the stage. This is different from the confrontation between Tun Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1998.

Abdullah does not make any direct accusation or comment. All we can see is Internal Security and Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar is standing on the front line together with the police force, while some Umno ministers and MPs as the backup forces.

Of course, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is unable to run away from the spotlight. The people started to believe that it is a decisive battle of life and death between Anwar and Najib.

It is reasonable that Abdullah does not interfere in the battle as he is no longer the Minister of Internal Security and Home Affairs. However, Abdullah is still the leader of the government and he has at least another two years of term of office as the Prime Minister. Eventually, he still has to face the impact of Anwar's case. This, after all, is his battlefield.

"It will not deliberately underestimate the economy or bad-mouth the government."

Once Awar is formally charged, all of the relevant state mechanisms, including the police, Attorney-general Chamber and court will have to face the test. The stability of Abdullah's party – Umno, will be affected and of course, BN's governance will be tested as well.

Now, it is only the beginning of the battle. But it has already puzzled the people. I can't imagine what will happen to the country after the battle.

Investors have expressed their views through the Malaysian stock market. Investors keep selling partly because they are at a loss in the economic prospects and at the same time, they are pessimistic about the political prospects.

How do we restore the people's confidence and boost the economy will be another battlefield for Abdullah.

Even the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) is not optimistic about the country's prospects. It revised downward its forecast for Malaysia's economic growth to 4.6% from 5.4%. Also, it believed that the deficit will deteriorate to 3.5%.

MIER is the government's financial and economic think-thank organisation. It will not deliberately underestimate the economy or bad-mouth the government. It's forecasts can be said an alarm to the country.

Abdullah is no longer a strong leader, but he still has to simultaneously fight in two battlefields and deal with two tough battles. In addition, he said before that many reform plans are still yet to be implemented.

From the people's view, I hope that he knows how to let go. I believe Master Hsing Yun will tell him the same thing.