Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi defended his record on battling corruption, crime and inflation as he seeks a new five-year mandate in general elections likely to be held next month.
Abdullah, whose popularity has dwindled since taking office in 2003, acknowledged in an interview with the Star newspaper that unhappiness among ethnic minority Indians would hurt support for his ruling coalition. The interview was published yesterday.
Indians are demanding economic equality, saying they have suffered because of an affirmative action program for Malays, who represent around 60 percent of the country's 27 million people. In November, some 20,000 Indians marched in an unprecedented anti-government demonstration.
Abdullah denied there is discrimination against Indians, who make up about 8 percent of the population.
"There are not just poor Indians, but also poor Chinese, Malays ... this is why eradicating poverty among Malaysians, and I stress the word Malaysians, has been on our agenda and remains one of our priorities," he said.
"More evident than before, we have corrected the social imbalance by providing better infrastructure, basic needs and quality of life. In both rural and urban areas, necessary steps have been taken to ensure there is steady growth regardless of race or religion," Abdullah said.
Elections, which are not due until next year, are widely expected to be held next month. Among the biggest challenges facing the government are inflation, rising crime, corruption and tensions in society because of the Indian unrest.
Given the problems, the National Coalition is not likely to repeat its record 2004 election performance when it won 96 percent of parliamentary seats.
A recent poll by the Merdeka Center showed Abdullah's approval rating slipped to an all-time low of 61 percent in December, from 91 percent in late 2004.
Abdullah said rising inflation and high fuel prices were a global phenomena and the government would be forced to cut fuel subsidies, which cost the treasury about 40 billion ringgit (US$12 billion) a year.
"It is convenient to blame the government, but people should really look at it as a global issue," he said.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
RSS