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Yang Amat Berhormat Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri  Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi
Prime Minister of Malaysia
Incumbent
Assumed office  31 October 2003
Monarch	Mizan Zainal Abidin
Preceded by	Mahathir bin Mohamad
Member of Parliament for Kepala Batas
Incumbent
Assumed office  1999
Preceded by	unknown
Born	26 November 1939 (1939-11-26) (age 68) Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang
Political party	BN UMNO
Spouse	Endon Mahmood Ambak (deceased) Jeanne Danker
Occupation	Civil servant
Religion	Islam

Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi^[1] (born November 26, 1939 in Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang) is the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is also the President of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest political party in Malaysia, and leads the governing Barisan Nasional parliamentary coalition. He is informally known as Pak Lah. He succeeded Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad.

After Mahathir sacked Anwar Ibrahim he appointed Abdullah Deputy Prime Minister. Abdullah succeeded Mahathir as Prime Minister in 2003. Abdullah's administration is riddled with controversies concerning the independence of Parliament and Judiciary. Although Abdullah was elected in 2004 with a huge mandate, he failed to fulfill his election pledge to seriously fight corruption or crime. Both these ills remain rampant under his administration.

In 2005 Mahathir began challenging Abdullah on a number of issues, such as the protection of Proton, the flagship national car manufacturer, and the distribution of approved permits for importing foreign-manufactured vehicles. Later in 2006, Mahathir asserted that Abdullah had betrayed his trust, citing the projects and policies which Mahathir introduced but Abdullah scrapped, such as the construction of a bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore which would replace the existing causeway.

Abdullah was born to a prominent religious family. His father, Ahmad Badawi, was a prominent religious figure and UMNO member. Badawi's maternal grandfather, Ha Su-chiang (also known as Hassan), was a Chinese Muslim who came from Sanya in Hainan.^[2]

Abdullah is a former student of Bukit Mertajam High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies from the University of Malaya in 1964. He originally wished to pursue a degree in Economics but did not meet the required standard after failing his statistics paper.^[3]

After graduation, he joined the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Corps (the formal term for the civil service). He served as Director of Youth at the Ministry of Youth and Sport as well as secretary of the National Emergency Council (MAGERAN). He resigned in 1978 to become the member of parliament for his constituency of Kepala Batas in northern Seberang Perai (which had also been represented by his late father), which he still represents today.

Early during Mahathir's tenure as prime minister, a bitter dispute erupted within the ruling UMNO party and it was divided into two camps, which were colloquially known as 'Team A' comprising Mahathir loyalists, and 'Team B', which supported former Minister of Finance Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam. Mahathir prevailed, leading to the exclusion of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah from the newly-established UMNO (Baru) or New UMNO. Abdullah was a close supporter of his political mentor Musa Hitam in Team B and as a result, the fact is that,Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, won the Apr 1987 Vice Presidential race in UMNO elections. However, because his alliance to 'Team B' then, he was sacked as the Minister of Defense. Yet, he did not join Semangat 46 (Spirit 46) party which was set up by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Semangat 46 is now defunct.

When UMNO (Baru) was formed in Feb 1988, the then UMNO President and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad brought Abdullah Ahmad Badawi into the protem committee of UMNO (Baru) as the Vice President.In 1990, Abdullah retained his Vice Presidency seat. In the Cabinet reshuffle of 1991, Mahathir brought in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi back into the Cabinet as the Foreign Minister. He held this post until Nov 1999 when Syed Hamid Albar took over the role. Even though Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lost his Vice President seat in the UMNO elections of 1993, he was still retained in the Cabinet, and was appointed to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Prior to 1998, he had also served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Minister of Education, Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs. His rehabilitation was complete when he was appointed deputy prime minister and Minister for Home Affairs following the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim.

Since coming into power as prime minister, Abdullah has promised to clamp down on corruption, giving more power to corruption agencies and making it easier for the public to reveal corrupt practices to the authorities. He has also arrested several public figures from the Mahathir era on charges of corruption, a move which was widely applauded by the public. He has advocated an interpretation of Islam known as Islam Hadhari, which maintains that Islam and economic and technological development are not incompatible. Apart from that, his administration has been emphasizing a revival of the Malaysian agricultural sector.

Abdullah Badawi visiting George W. Bush

In the eleventh 2004 general election, Abdullah's first election as the incumbent prime minister, he delivered a stunning victory for his party's coalition Barisan Nasional (of which UMNO is the dominant party) by winning 198 out of 220 seats in parliament, and wrested control of the Terengganu state government back from the Islamist opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), as well as coming close to capturing the traditional PAS stronghold of Kelantan. The victory was widely regarded as an approval of his vision of moderate Islam over religious fundamentalism, and support for his anti-corruption policies.

In September 2004, upon his release from prison, Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister jailed since 1999 by former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, publicly credited Abdullah for not interfering with the judiciary's overturning of his sodomy conviction.

On September 10, 2004, Abdullah, as finance minister, tabled his maiden budget, which is seen by the public as being more consolidation and maintenance-oriented as opposed to the growth policies emphasised by Mahathir.

Abdullah is also known for stressing on Malaysia's internal security, after witnessing an increase in corruptive practices, such as bribery in the police force.

Abdullah is unofficially known in Malay circles in Malaysia as Pak Lah (Malay diminutive for "Uncle Abdullah"). The Malaysian government has issued a statement that the prime minister should not be referred to by this nickname in official articles and in newsprint; however, the nickname is still used informally. In fact, Abdullah himself often uses the nickname to refer to himself in public gatherings.

Abdullah continues to be heavily involved in foreign policy. He is the chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, since he became prime minister in 2003. As of 2005, he is also the chairman of ASEAN. He also served as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement from October 2003 until September 2006.

Concerning the giving up of North Korea´s nuclear weapon and missile tests he is sceptical because they are something precious to the country. It will be very difficult to stop these actions.^[4]

50th Anniversary

On August 31, 2007, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi shouted 'Merdeka!' meaning 'Independence' during the midnight celebrations, where thousands of Malaysians celebrated at Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur, 50 years of nationhood, emulating the actions of the nation's first Prime Minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, having declared independence in 1957 from the British .^[5]

On October 20, 2005, Abdullah's wife, Endon Mahmood, died from breast cancer. Endon discovered she had breast cancer in 2003 while her twin sister Noraini who had earlier been diagnosed with the disease died in January 2003. She received treatment in the United States and returned to Malaysia 18 days before her death. She is buried at the Muslim cemetery, at Taman Selatan, Precinct 20, Putrajaya.

On June 6, 2007, the Prime Minister's office announced his marriage to Jeanne Abdullah. On June 9, a private ceremony was conducted at the prime minister's residence, Seri Perdana, attended by close relatives. Jeanne was formerly married to the younger brother of Abdullah's late wife. She was also a manager at the Seri Perdana residential complex and has two children from her previous marriage.^[6] Earlier in March that year, the premier dismissed rumours about his plans to remarry.

Abdullah declared an end to the economic legacy and grandiose projects of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, during the 57th UMNO General Assembly. He told delegates that he would not pursue the economic strategies adopted two decades earlier by Mahathir.

He said in the past, wealth was generated not by innovation and creativity, but by foreign investment, government contracts and privatization.

Agriculture and biotechnology are some of the highlighted issues in 9MP that the government believes such sectors are still able to generate wealth for many Malaysians, especially those in rural areas.

Under the Abdullah administration, the country is moving up to a value chain economy by developing its inherent strengths in agriculture without losing its existing manufacturing base^[7]

American president George W. Bush meets with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia during Bush's visit to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, September 18, 2006.

After moves to charge prominent figures such as Eric Chia and Isa Abdul Samad with corruption, Abdullah's administration's efforts to combat corruption allegedly became significantly less public. It is disputed as to whether Abdullah is continuing to fight corruption quietly, or has intentionally slowed progress in reducing corruption.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, it was alleged that under Abdullah's administration, there had been a significant increase in cases of cronyism regarding the distribution of import permits for foreign-manufactured vehicles. Mahathir, Abdullah's predecessor, called for an investigation of the issue. Later, Mahathir criticised Abdullah for cancelling a number of development projects that Mahathir had backed, such as the construction of a bridge to replace the causeway linking Malaysia and Singapore.^[8] Mahathir also alleged that Abdullah had originally offered to permit the Singaporean Air Force to fly over Malaysian territory and sell sand to Singapore in exchange for an agreement on constructing the bridge. Mahathir construed this as an instance of "selling" Malaysian sovereignty.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Mahathir stepped up his criticism of Abdullah, alleging that freedom of the press under Abdullah had actually decreased, alleging that the media refused to publish Mahathir's comments. . He also accused Abdullah of reneging on promises he made to Mahathir related to government policies, and in his strongest criticism thus far, said in June 2006 that Abdullah had betrayed his trust. Mahathir expressed regret in selecting Abdullah as his successor, and said that he had originally intended for Abdullah's deputy — Najib Tun Razak — to succeed him. Najib, who was on a state visit to India at the time, immediately expressed unreserved support for Abdullah.^[9][10]

Even though Abdullah claimed that he is open to any comments or critics to help improving his administration, he actually only accepts positive remarks and never accepts negative remarks towards his administration. This has been proven in a high-profile case when Mukhriz Mahathir was warned by both UMNO and Abdullah for criticizing Abdullah's economic policies during the 2006 UMNO General Meeting.^[11] He even attempts to control underground resources such as Web pages, forums and blogs, assuming those who criticize him via these media as "the people without credibility."^[12]

Recently (as of October 2006), Mahathir accused Abdullah of having developed a habit of lying. ^[13] It is due to the fact that Abdullah was reported as having problems of making essential decisions, therefore he often faces problems if any of his decisions have sparked controversies among Malaysians, such as his decisions about the cancellation of the bridge which was supposed to replace the Johor-Singapore Causeway. In his decisions, he often use the word rakyat (people), assuming that all Malaysians support all his decisions, regardless on how good or bad the results will be.

Other critics who contrast Abdullah's administration with Mahathir's suggest that Mahathir was more successful at managing "to keep harmony among Malaysia's ethnicities".^[14]

Abdullah has also been frequently criticized by Malaysian bloggers and foreign media for silencing his critics. He has vowed to crack down on the pro-democracy protesters and gave his support to the police to break up the protest and arrest participants. ^[15] It was followed by a series of media blackouts regarding several peaceful pro-democracy rally events such as the 2007 Bersih Rally held on November 10, 2007. Local media, controlled by the Malaysian government, did not carry the event although it was heavily reported on international headlines by foreign media such as Al Jazeera, Reuters, BBC and the CNN. The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Badawi, was quoted as saying he did not like being challenged. ^[16]

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Prime Ministers of Malaysia
Tunku Abdul Rahman | Abdul Razak | Hussein Onn | Mahathir Mohamad | Abdullah Badawi