Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's first anniversary in office was greeted with unrestrained "love fest" in the mainstream papers and hypercritical comments in the alternative media. Readers might be tempted to believe that the truth lies somewhere in between.

Not quite! When you begin with a blank canvas, you are free to paint your own picture. As leader, Abdullah is just that a blank slate and his supporters and detractors are free to sketch their own portrait of the man. There is nothing there to the man's leadership. As we Malays would say, it is kosong (empty). The man lacks vision or conviction.

He never aspired nor expected to be prime minister. To him it was just another "promotion" (he admitted as much), and a chance to improve his pension the typical civil service mentality.

I am neither surprised nor disappointed. Looking back it is difficult to ascertain his accomplishments as defence, education, foreign or home minister. His legacy as prime minister will be no different. I expect him to be a one-term leader.

Coasting along

Abdullah is content with coasting along, resting on the achievements of his predecessor. Coasting is fine when you are already at the top, but not when you are still ascending. Then you risk stalling, or worse, sliding backwards. Malaysia can ill afford that.

Abdullah relies on his supposedly bright young advisors, but they, getting no direction from him, are reduced to spinning favourable images and coining memorable quotes. Abdullah himself appears strangely detached, as if preoccupied with other concerns.

His wife's illness must weigh heavily on him. While I am not privy to her condition, nonetheless I am familiar with her malady, having treated many such patients. The toll can be very heavy not only on the patient but also on the rest of the family.

When President Reagan's wife had breast cancer, the American public was fully apprised. In contrast, when the late Tun Abdul Razak was deathly ill with leukemia, his medical condition was hidden from the public. The nation knew of his fate only with the stunned announcement of his death.

The Malaysian public deserves more respect. They ought to be told the state of health of their leaders and their immediate family. That is not a private matter.

Abdullah has many admirable qualities such as his non-confrontational demeanor and exemplary family life. He also has a respectable religious background and the necessary public piety, important in Islam-conscious Malaysia. Such qualities can greatly enhance the effectiveness of a leader, but only if he or she has the prerequisite leadership talent and skills. Absent that, we simply have a "nice person". That's Pak Lah.

His party's impressive victory in the last election was less a resounding vote of confidence for Abdullah than the fact that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the target of ire for most Malaysians, was gone. Besides, Malaysians are typically generous and willingly give their new leader the benefit of the doubt. Add to that the disarray and incompetence of the opposition parties, especially PAS following the Sept 11 attacks.

Abdullah's other accomplishment, much touted by his cheerleaders, was the setting up of the royal commission to investigate the police. Again here it is less than what it seems. As home minister immediately before becoming prime minister, he was in charge of the police. Why didn't he do something then instead of letting the problems fester? Had he been an effective home minister, the police would not have deteriorated to its present mess, and he would not have had to set up a royal commission as prime minister.

Endless exhortations

The more pertinent question is this: Can anyone point to any improvement in the police since the forming of the commission?

The commission illustrates Abdullah's management style. He thinks that a problem is automatically solved once he sets up a commission or makes a major speech. Likewise, his solution to the chronic problems with the Immigration Department was to make a lightning tour of that ministry. A year after the visit and the speech promising a shake up that department is still as tardy as ever.

Frankly I am fed up with his speeches. "Eradicate poverty!" "Be efficient!" "Seek more knowledge!" "Don't be corrupt!" Does he think that the monumental problems of the nation could be solved with endless exhortations? He reminds me of the pathetic politician in Shahnon Ahmad's short story, Unggapan.

Abdullah's much-heralded fight against corruption turned out to be equally illusory. Many expected the arrests of Eric Chia (the former head of Perwaja) and Kasitah Gaddam (Abdullah's less known minister) would signal a concerted assault on corruption. It turned out to be Abdullah's best, or more correctly, only shot. He could not even control the blatant and rampant corruption within Umno. He was embarrassingly impotent, reduced to issuing plaintive pleas. How pathetic!

There was much praise when he brought fresh talent to his cabinet. Unfortunately he forgot the other equally important part: getting rid of the deadwood and tired faces. The result? A large and unwieldy cabinet!

Commendably, Abdullah has reduced sizably the country's debt, now under five percent of GDP. That is both a function of an expanding economy and his courage to terminate some pet mega-projects. The former is due to policies put in place by Mahathir rather than to any brilliant initiative from Abdullah, and from external factors like increased oil revenue and better commodity prices. Significantly, Abdullah has not paid any attention to the rapidly ballooning cost of domestic oil subsidy. Unchecked, it could unravel even the most prudent economic planning.

The savings from canceling mega-projects is "non-recurring". Besides, I would have preferred the double rail project to proceed, as it was a critical infrastructure. It would have been viable had there been truly competitive bidding to reduce its bloated price tag.

There is no fundamental restructuring or rationalising of fiscal policies. Abdullah's latest initiatives, modernising agriculture and Islam Hadhari, were announced in typical fashion great publicity and much pontificating, but scant details on execution. He is incapable of going beyond sermonising.

With domestic problems overwhelming him, Abdullah sought the traditional refuge of other inept Third World leaders: making frequent official trips abroad.

One-term leader

Abdullah will be 70 come the next general election. His hair is now noticeably thinner, physique visibly haggard. Unlike his predecessor Mahathir who looks robust at 80, Abdullah is not similarly blessed physically. When The Economist put the profiles of the two men on its cover last year, one could be excused into thinking that Abdullah was the older one.

If Abdullah were to accept that he would be a one-term leader, he would be freed from the burden and worry of having to be re-elected. Perhaps then he might be emboldened to make the necessary drastic changes, like firing the incompetent ministers he inherited from Mahathir and instituting bold new policies.

He would also be less preoccupied with his "nice guy" image and begin implementing much-needed changes in personnel and policies. Only then would he be able to do much good. Who knows, the citizens might well want him to lead for another term.