Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Tun Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi (عبد الله بن احمد بدوي, ; born 26 November 1939) is a Malaysian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009.

He was also the sixth president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest political party (at the time) in Malaysia, and led the governing Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentary coalition.

He is informally known as Pak Lah, Pak meaning 'Uncle' or 'Sir', while Lah is taken from his name 'Abdullah'.

Abdullah obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Islamic Studies from the University of Malaya in 1964.

After graduating from the University of Malaya, he joined the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Corps (the formal term for civil service).

He served as Director of Youth at the Ministry of Youth and Sport as well as Secretary of the National Operations Council (MAGERAN).

He was also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kepala Batas for eight consecutive terms, from 1978 to 2013.

During the later part of Abdullah's administration, his government faced criticism for economic policies and performance, including concerns about inflation and the rising cost of living.

Abdullah was born in Bayan Lepas, Penang to a prominent religious family.

Badawi's paternal grandfather, Syeikh Abdullah Badawi Fahim, was of Hadrami descent.

Syeikh Abdullah was a well-respected religious leader and nationalist, was one of the founding members of Hizbul Muslimin, later known as PAS.

After independence, Syeikh Abdullah became the first mufti of Penang after Independence.

His father, Ahmad Badawi, was a prominent religious figure and UMNO member.

He resigned in 1978 to become a member of parliament for his constituency of Kepala Batas in northern Seberang Perai (which had also been represented by his father).

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, he was sacked from his post of Minister of Defence in the Cabinet.

He did not join the Semangat 46 (Spirit 46) party which was set up by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Semangat 46 is now defunct.

When UMNO (Baru) was formed in February 1988, Mahathir, the UMNO president and prime minister, brought Abdullah into the pro tem committee of UMNO (Baru) as the vice-president.

In 1990, Abdullah retained his seat as vice president.

During the Cabinet reshuffle in 1991, Mahathir brought him back into the Cabinet as foreign minister.

Even though he lost his vice presidency in the 1993 UMNO elections, he remained in the Cabinet and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Prior to 1998, he also served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Minister of Education, Minister of Defence, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He held this post until November 1999, when Syed Hamid Albar succeeded him.

On 7 January 1999, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad appointed him as deputy prime minister.

Abdullah went on to succeed Mahathir as prime minister in 2003.

Upon coming into power as prime minister, Abdullah Badawi promised to clamp down on corruption, thus empowering anti-corruption agencies and providing more avenues for the public to expose corrupt practices.

He advocated an interpretation of Islam known as Islam Hadhari, which advocates the intercompatibility between Islam and economic and technological development.

His mother, Kailan Haji Hassan died in Kuala Lumpur at the age of 80 on 2 February 2004.

His maternal grandfather, Ha Su-chiang (also known as Hassan Salleh), was an Utsul Muslim who came from Sanya in Hainan.

Abdullah is a former student of Bukit Mertajam High School.

He studied at MBS (Methodist Boys' School) Penang for his 6th form.

In the 2004 general election, Abdullah scored a significant victory.

On 31 August 2007, Abdullah Badawi shouted 'Merdeka!' during the midnight celebrations of Malaysia's 50 years of nationhood.

The celebrations were held at Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur, where thousands of people had congregated.

In the 11th General Election, Abdullah Badawi's first as Prime Minister of Malaysia, he delivered a landslide 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 wresting control of the Terengganu state government from the Islamist opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (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 as well as support for his anti-corruption policies.

Under the Abdullah administration, the country is moving down to a value-chain economy by developing its inherent strengths in agriculture without losing its existing manufacturing base.

However, Abdullah has been criticised for his handling of the sudden hikes in the price of petrol and electricity through the restructuring of government subsidies, especially as it is detrimental to Malaysia's position as a traditional exporter.