For a man not given to confrontation and to where his genteel style is his hallmark, Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, or Pak Lah as he is popularly known, is certainly a welcome break from his combative predecessor.

But that is just about where any comparison whatsoever, begins and ends with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

Everything else after that about Pak Lah, is a pale and indeed poor carbon copy of a once mercurial premier whose abrasive brand quite ironically was what came to be associated with Malaysia internationally.

If that Mahathir brashness is anything to go by, Pak Lah's problems are quite the converse. And it is not leadership style per se that is in question here.

If the new premier is serious about stamping his name in the history books, he must seen to be steadfast and decisive by the general public and also cautious by his party leaders.

In all fairness to Pak Lah, the economy under his stewardship is moving at a very healthy clip.

Relations with Singapore, which during the Mahathir era were anything but steady, are somewhat smooth and settled now.

Relations are also cordial with Indonesia and Thailand, despite the tensions of the recent past.

And significantly, the premier's standing in the Muslim world because of his Islam Hadhari has not only been widely received but would have also received the kind blessings of Western nations principally the United States, rather tacitly.

Room for improvement

However, in some key areas of leadership there is still plenty of room for improvement for the new premier.

As far as political leadership is concerned, it is all about making a perceptible and lasting change in the lives of their subjects.

Perhaps, it is on that score that Mahathir rates immeasurably more, and whatever history delivers there is no musing that today's Malay middle class is largely the former premier's handiwork.

In the months since assuming the nation's leadership, the nation has not seen any real and concrete attempts to crack and whip back into shape the one genie blighting the body politic: corruption. It stubbornly persists to this day and is almost threatening to become a way of life.

And because it is that way, Malaysia may wind up the way Indonesia did, where just about everything in society points to systemic weakness. In such a situation economic reality collides with political expediencies to entrench further institutional weakness.

At a glance these weaknesses include an educational system where excellence is derided and mocked, making Malaysian graduates unemployable.

Never mind if these students become the laughing stock of the world. But in an era where globalisation respects no borders, this can portend grave challenges to the nation and its future if its young are inadequately schooled, and lack the intrinsic values that meritocracy brings.

That, however, is the tip of the challenges facing the new premier.

Because, there is widespread poverty to grapple, it should not become some juicy recipe for militant Islamists to exploit to their advantage.

And apart from all these, is the canon fodder of graduate unemployment, illegal immigration, lack of labour, the reversal of socio-cultural integration and inter-ethnic tension and sometimes strife.

Clear and present danger

All these grave challenges present not only a clear and present danger to the new government, but unpalatable tidings.

Though the Royal Commission report on the police did release some interesting findings, what is truly and really needed now is the mustering of political will to translate those recommended initiatives into actions.

With sky-high support from the public and party, Pak Lah now has that unique opportunity to really do what was expected of him, when stepping in Mahathir's giant shoes. That is to rid the country of all inertia, sloth, graft and the general posturing of politicians out to serve their selfish aims.

If he squanders that unique opportunity, he loses his place in history as well. And, along with it that harsh historical judgement of not rising to the time of need when his people needed him most.

And perhaps also, of not delivering on the first test of leadership, of changing the lives of his people for the better.

JAYA PRAKASH lectures journalism in Singapore.