By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 29 2004 (IPS)

”Walk the talk” is an unlikely phrase to come from the mild-mannered and Islamic prime minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

But the idiom has struck with him ever since he first promised to walk the talk of reform during the election campaign in March.

On Mar. 21, Abdullah, 64, won that election handsomely. More significantly, he rolled back fundamentalist political Islam to the fringes of national politics in this mainly Muslim country of 23 million people.

The key question now – eight months into his leadership of this South-east Asian country and three months after he won the biggest electorate mandate in Malaysian politics – is whether he is delivering on the many promises he made to wipe out corruption, restore public confidence in the judiciary, reign in the corrupt and inefficient police force and raise government accountability and transparency.

There is no denying that by backing Abdullah and his promise to reform, the vast majority of people had shown their unhappiness with the 22-year rule of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, who retired from the prime ministership in November 2003.

But under Abdullah, is Malaysia softer, kinder, less corrupt and more humane? It all depends on who one talks to.

”The promised reforms are happening. You can see and feel it everywhere,” said Zaid Ibrahim, a government backbencher and prominent leader of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party who is making waves with his demands for judicial independence, end to corruption and more transparency in government.

”People are more vocal, the media is more questioning and the civil service is more responsive,” Zaid Ibrahim told IPS. ”But the public have a high expectation and want faster changes.”

Zaid said: "I would give Abdullah one full term (five years) to complete the fundamental changes in society."

Expectation was raised not least by what Abdullah himself preached. Abdullah’s other famous sayings include "Tell me the truth" when urging people to speak up and "Work with me, not for me."

He also raised hopes when he said in March that "voices of discontent, whenever they are raised, would be heard."

True enough, one of Abdullah’s major steps after taking over power was to set up a royal commission to investigate the police force and recommend changes to improve police image, efficiency and to end corruption by raising wages, work conditions and service.

Abdullah also cancelled several mammoth construction projects inherited from Mahathir that critics had slammed as wasteful.

Though he saved some 30 billion ringgit (7.89 billion U.S. dollars) in taxpayers’ money by knocking back the projects, the new premier, however, incurred the wrath of big business – the darlings of the previous government.

Abdullah also allowed the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to go after corrupt senior civil servants and politicians.

He also made more transparent the procedures for government tenders and tightened the accountability rules for government-linked corporations that together account for 35 percent of market capitalisation.

With these steps, Abdullah has convinced some Malaysians that serious reforms were underway. Others however say the changes were cosmetic, too slow and too little compared to the peoples’ high expectations and the huge mandate they gave Abdullah.

Opposition politician Lim Kit Siang is prepared to be charitable and hold back criticism of Abdullah. ”Abdullah has opened a window of opportunity for reforms but we can’t say for sure how far he will take,” Lim, parliamentary opposition leader, told IPS.

”Abdullah has pledged to create a clean, incorruptible and transparent government,” said Lim, chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP). ”At the very least Abdullah could restore what the people had lost under Mahathir’s long rule.”

Abdullah did surprise many Malaysians with his quiet but unyielding stand against Islamic extremism and in using, without hesitation, the dreaded Internal Security Act (ISA) that provides for detention without trial.

The ISA was used against alleged members of Jemaiah Islamiyah – a network that aims to create a pan-Islamic state in South-east Asia and which several governments have classified as a terrorist organisation – and the homegrown Kumpulan Mujahiddin Malaysia or Malaysia Mujahideen Group, banned by Kuala Lumpur.

Over 90 alleged militants have been detained and held without trial since 1999 in what human rights activists say is a blatant use of power and a serious violation of fundamental human rights.

Abdullah justified the use of the ISA and detailed his views of Islamic extremism here recently, saying that Islam has become corrupted to serve militant causes.

”Killing innocent civilians is neither just nor legitimate. Nothing can make a virtue out of the massacre of innocent men, women, and children," Abdullah said, adding that the origins of terrorism could be found in undemocratic governments, oppression, poverty, and poor governance, and ”not in Islam.”

Abdullah also slammed U.S. policies, post Sep. 11, 2001, for alienating Muslims across the globe but justified the use of the ISA to defeat terrorism and restore order.

Human rights activists, however, disagree with Abdullah over his use of the ISA.

"Abdullah has set a bad example by using the ISA extensively and liberally. Is this what his administration would be remembered for?” asked A Arulchelvam, an activist with the human rights group SUARAM. ”The detainees should either be charged in a court or released,” he told IPS.

A deeply felt but unstated grouse among supporters is that Abdullah is ”not yet” strong enough in the ruling UMNO party to drop many Mahathir loyalists from the government.

The UMNO, the cabinet and the civil service that Abdullah inherited are still very much the creatures that Mahathir had shaped and bent to his will, and still respond to his style of leadership.

”It would take some years before Abdullah reshapes these organs to respond to good-practice procedures and the rule of law,” said an academic who declined to be named.

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