Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (born November 26, 1939) is the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, succeeding Mahathir bin Mohamad on October 31, 2003

Badawi was born in the northern Malaysian island of Penang. He received a BS in Islamic Studies from the University of Malaya in 1964.

Early during Mahathir's tenure as Prime Minister, a bitter dispute erupted within the ruling UMNO party and the two camps were colloquially known as 'Team A' which was comprised of Mahathir loyalists, and 'Team B', which supported another political figure, Tengku Razaleigh. Mahathir prevailed and Razaleigh was expelled from UMNO. Abdullah Badawi was in Team B and as a result, he was sacked from the Cabinet. He was rehabilitated during the early 1990s, being given a series of minor portfolios, including Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Education. His reputation was fully restored when he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister following the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim.

Since coming into power as Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi has clamped down on corruption, giving more power to anti-corruption agencies and making it easier for the public to reveal corrupt practices to the authorities. He has also arrested Mahathir-era cronies on charges of corruption, a move which is widely applauded by a public. However, Abdullah Badawi has also been criticised for letting the Mahathir-appointed judiciary deny former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his sentences. The judiciary is perceived as still being subservient to the government.

Abdullah Badawi is unofficially known in Malay circles in Malaysia as 'Pak Lah' ("uncle"). The Malaysian government has issued a statement that Abdullah should not be referred to by this nickname in official articles and in newsprint; however, informally the nickname is still used.

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