Introduction

Summary

How long does a transition take before we should be calling it something else, like New Normal, for example? In Malaysia, the word “transition” has been used since Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed decided to retire as Prime Minister. The main reasons for that came out of the many successes and excesses, of the period between 1981 and 2003. The latter can be read in the choice of reforms that his successor Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi tried to carry out. The ballooning budget deficit was such an area; the sorry state of the police force was another. And coining “Islam Hadhari” was his attempt to moderate religious fervor and opportunism.

Corruption and money politics were other major concerns back in the early days of post-Mahathir Malaysia.

Ten years have now passed, and Abdullah Badawi's slow reforms proved far from steady. In failing to carry out his promises, he failed to please neither his party nor his people. After voters in the general elections of March 8, 2008 turned against the central government on a scale never before seen in Malaysian politics, his own party leadership decided that they had had enough of his dilly-dally style of governance.

Mahathir Mohamed made it his mission to dethrone Abdullah, and his followers within UMNO succeeded in doing that on 3 April 2009, and the Najib Razak administration took over. Post-Mahathir Malaysia was not as post-Mahathir as we had thought.

Criminality remains a major issue; the police force is still not trusted by the public; the national debt is still growing; corruption continues as never before; the income gap is increasing; and money-for-vote politics is now routine and mainstream. Mahathir's influence is still strongly discernible in increasingly dark corners of Malaysian politics; and religious intolerance continues to grow.

Najib Razak was in fact ignored in 2003 by Mahathir for the position of prime minister. But as Abdullah failed in Mahathir's eyes in 2003-2009, the runner-up now became the preferred option.

Needless to say, Malaysia remains in reform mode today. Prime Minister Najib Razak has during his four years in power been putting a series of reforms in place. For that, he should be commended.