Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (born November 26, 1939) is the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, succeeding Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad.

Badawi was born in the northern Malaysian island of Penang. He received a Bachelor of Art in Islamic Studies from the University of Malaya in 1964.

Early during Mahathir's tenure as Prime Minister, a bitter dispute erupted within the ruling UMNO party and the two camps were colloquially known as 'Team A' which was comprised of Mahathir loyalists, and 'Team B', which supported another political figure, Tengku Razaleigh. Mahathir prevailed and Razaleigh was expelled from UMNO. Abdullah was in Team B and as a result, he was sacked from the Cabinet. He was rehabilitated during the early 1990s, being given a series of minor portfolios, including Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Education. His reputation was fully restored when he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister following the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim.

Since coming into power as Prime Minister, Abdullah has clamped down on corruption, giving more power to anti-corruption agencies and making it easier for the public to reveal corrupt practices to the authorities. He has also arrested several Mahathir-era cronies on charges of corruption, a move which is widely applauded by the public. However, Abdullah has also been criticised for letting the Mahathir-appointed judiciary deny former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against his sentence, which has led to the judiciary being perceived by some as still being subservient to the government.

In the 2004 general election, Abdullah's first election as the incumbent prime minister, he delivered a stunning victory for his party's coalition Barisan Nasional (UMNO is the dominant party in the coalition) by winning more than 90% of all parliamentary seats, and wrested control of the Terengganu state government back from the Islamist opposition PAS as well as coming close to capturing the traditional Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) stronghold of Kelantan. The victory was widely regarded as an approval of his vision of moderate Islam over religious fundamentalism, and support for his anti-corruption policies.

Abdullah is unofficially known in Malay circles in Malaysia as Pak Lah (Malay diminutive for "Uncle Abdullah"). The Malaysian government has issued a statement that the Prime Minister should not be referred to by this nickname in official articles and in newsprint; however, informally the nickname is still used.

Abdullah is also the chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, and has held that position since he became prime minister.