11/12: Abdullah's promises are for the long term

Posted by: The Sun

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi proclaim today that he does not intend to be a one-term leader, and his policies, including the campaign against corruption, are long-term plans.

Urging Malaysians to give him more time to fulfill the promises he made during 2004 general elections, Abdullah said they were not to be achieved within five years but for the long haul.


"I don’t plan to come in (as Prime Minister) for five years and I’m out… I’m looking ahead and looking ahead is (the year) 2020. Don’t expect me to do things by the third and fourth year," he said during a question and answer session after delivering a speech at the Khazanah Global Lecture Series here today.


Abdullah said the battle against corruption was "very difficult" and the problem could be tackled from the "preventive" or "curative" angles.


Thus far, the government had focused mostly on the preventive aspects to fight corruption by setting up the National Integrity Institute and improving the public sector’s delivery system, he added.


He said delays in the public sector’s delivery system could lead to corruption because they motivated certain quarters to resort to bribes in order to speed up the process.


"I am aware of people’s criticisms against me… I want to succeed more than anyone else because I want to be responsible for what I said," Abdullah said.


He was responding to a question posed by Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Annuar Zaini, who asked the prime minister to comment on criticisms that he had not been able to "walk the talk" on various promises. Mohd Annuar, who is the chairman of national news agency, Bernama, was also the moderator of the event.


On whether the position of prime minister had eroded his image as "Mr Clean" and "Mr Nice Guy", Abdullah said: "I know, God knows, I’m clean and I’m still nice."


However, he added being nice did not mean being weak. "As far as I am concerned, what is right is right. What is wrong is wrong… If I have to sign a detention order for ISA (Internal Security Act), I will do it without feeling guilty," he said.