Badawi, Abdullah Ahmed
(b. 1939), Malaysian politician. Abdullah Ahmed Badawi is Malaysia's deputy prime minister and minister of home affairs and the vice president of the ruling United Malay National Organization (UMNO) party. Born on 26 November 1939 in Pulau Pinang, Badawi graduated from the University of Malaysia in 1964. He was a respected civil servant before running for parliament on the UMNO ticket in 1978. Not always one of Prime Minister Muhammad Mahatir's loyalists, Badawi was one of several politicians who challenged the prime minister in a leadership contest in 1987. But he never left UMNO, and chose to rise through the ranks. He served as minister in the prime minister's office (1981–1984), minister of education (1984–1986), minister of defense (1986–1987), and minister of foreign affairs (1991–1999). Badawi has held key UMNO party posts as well. He was elected party vice president for 1984–1990 and 1996–2000. He was a member of UMNO's thirty-five-person supreme council in 1991 and 1993–1996. Following the sacking and arrest of his longtime political rival, Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Badawi was promoted to the posts of deputy prime minister, minister of home affairs, and vice president of UMNO, making him the prime minister's heir apparent. Badawi is a pragmatic politician, a pro-business secularist who has supported women's rights and fought against the Islamization of Malaysian politics.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi speaking at the UMNO Party convention in Kuala Lumpur in May 2000. (AFP/CORBIS)Further Reading
Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y. Andaya. (2001) A History of Malaysia. 2d ed. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
Crouch, Harold. (1996) Government and Society in Malaysia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
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