Contrary to accounts in the Malaysian print and broadcast media, the appointment of Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak as deputy prime minister has not been accepted without reservation.

Opposition politicians question the timing of the appointment by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ( photo ) as well as his choice of candidate.

Critics ask why Abdullah - who has been delaying the decision since he took over as prime minister last November - finally chose to announce Najib's appointment on Jan 7.

Up to then, Abdullah had been perceived to be resisting pressure from former premier Mahathir Mohamad and other lobbyists to choose Najib. Abdullah could well have waited until after the general election, due by November but widely speculated to be held by March or April.

Why he succumbed to pressure at this point remains unexplained, especially since he was popularly seen as favouring Umno vice-president Muhyiddin Yassin, who is said to be less of a political threat.

On Jan 9, PAS central committee member and Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar claimed in the party organ Harakah that the choice was actually Mahathir's and not Abdullah's.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail shares his opinion, saying that the choice reflects "the influence of the old regime".

Mahfuz ( photo ), an influential personality at the PAS grassroots, also sees Najib as "a proxy and servant of certain quarters", and claims that the Abdullah-Najib "combination is very fragile".

He further sees Najib's style of leadership as being incompatible with that of Abdullah, who has chosen to project "an Islamic image".

In the 1999 election, a mid-ranking PAS candidate lost to Najib only very narrowly by 241 votes in Pekan - a blue-ribbon constituency of Umno in Pahang, where both Najib and his late father built their political career.

Views on ISA

DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang, meanwhile, questioned Najib's commitment to human rights especially in view of the latter's stand on the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA).

Najib had said last month that this law - which provides for detention without trial - is necessary under certain circumstances.

Lim who had been detained in 1969 and 1987 under the ISA, described this as "most cynical, self-serving and an utter contempt of the human rights aspirations of Malaysians".

He also recalled Najib's role in "precipitating mass arrests under Operasi Lalang under the ISA" in October 1987, when 119 Malaysians were rounded up within a week.

Among the detainees were Lim himself, son Guan Eng ( photo ), Chinese educationists, environmentalists, Christian church workers and PAS leaders including Mahfuz. (see, for example, Harold Crouch, Government & Society in Malaysia, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1996, pp 108-109)

Immediately after the first wave of mass detentions, three newspapers - The Star (English), Sin Chew Jit Poh (Chinese, now Sin Chew Daily ) and Watan (Malay) were ordered to cease publications for several months for allegedly "stirring up racial tension".

A Malay Christian pastor Yeshua Jamaluddin @ Jamaluddin Othman later alleged in an affidavit that he had been severely tortured physically and psychologically while under detention for his religious choice.

Given these circumstances, it is psychologically difficult for segments of the Muslim, Chinese and Christian communities in Malaysia to uncritically accept Najib's appointment and ascendancy, even if all do not express their views honestly in public.

Acceptable traits

However, there is a positive side to Najib compared to Muhyiddin or even Mahathir, from a global viewpoint.

Najib is believed to be a more presentable or acceptable face to the world because of his educational background, command of the English language, wider and deeper knowledge of international high politics, and generally acceptable relationships with Malaysia's trading and security partners.

After 22 years of Mahathir's anti-Western rhetoric, Najib's ascendancy is perhaps seen to be an antidote and a beginning of a new era in the relationships between Malaysia and Western countries, especially the United States.

It could also signal a beginning of a gradual and positive shift of Malaysia's international relations and conduct of foreign policy from confrontational rhetoric to constructive engagement with the West.

But it will still be extremely difficult for him to neutralise the damage done to date without discrediting the propaganda machinery and line adopted by the former administration.

A former academic has observed that, at this point, the many congratulatory messages from Western countries may backfire on Najib domestically because many Malaysians still see the world in the classical paradigm of Mahathirism.

Aspects of Najib's negative track-record - as highlighted by the domestic opposition - may also backfire on his Western friends and well-wishers. But this is nothing new in international politics.

China's Chiang Kai-shek, Cuba's Fulgencio Batista, South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem, Iran's Shah Pahlavi, Nicaragua's Somoza and Iraq's Saddam Hussein have delivered sufficient terrible but unforgettable lessons to the West, especially Americans.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). Wong is a former member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily ).