An Orderly Handover.

Ahmad Abang for The spectator April 06, 2009

Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia:-

An Orderly Handover

Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia:

Once again, Malaysian politics showed its maturity after fifty-two years of independence.

Exactly a year after the 12^th General Election, the Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi bowed down and hand-over the executive post to Najib Razak.

Najib Razak is the son of the second Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The manner in which he assumed power is almost a repeat of what his late father accepted in 1969. After the country, experienced its first ever racial riot which followed the substantial gains by the opposition in the General Election, the then Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman resigned. The first Prime Minister apparently felt responsible for the poor showing by the Alliance Coalition. The post of Prime Minister was then handed over to Razak Hussein, Najib’s father.

The twelfth General Election held in March 2008, was not a total loss to the National Front Coalition. The country was so used to the successive two-third majority that the National Front enjoyed in the Parliament. Thus, a lesser victory is unforgivable. In that election the National Front was short of only eight seats.

It was the loss of four states to the Opposition that made the supporters of the National Front really dejected. Calls for ‘post mortem’ and ‘brainstorming’ followed. There were even calls for Abdullah’s resignation.

Abdullah was unwilling to leave a ‘battered-ship,” and took responsibility for the unexpected development. Then, he started a revival plan. Most important of all, he made the commitment to hand over power to his Deputy, Najib Razak.

Last Friday, on the 3^rd of April 2009, Malaysia witnessed the appointment of Najib Razak as its sixth Prime Minister.