South-East Asia's Gorbachev?

摘要

Defenders of Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, liken him to Mikhail Gorbachev: a statesman who emerged from deep inside a declining, dysfunctional system and yet had the courage to carry out risky but badly needed pol-rnitical reforms. With Malaysians squabbling viciously over improbable new allegations against the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, and Mr Badawi's own heir-apparent, Najib Razak, the system has never looked in more need of a reforming hero (see page 77). But is Mr Badawi, who succeeded Mahathir Mohamad in 2003, really up to it?