How long will Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's zeal for reformasi last? By the looks of it, not very long. Indeed, it is already fizzling out.

Abdullah's new cabinet - unveiled over the weekend - was a let down. We now see the same old faces, some of whom the new prime minister would not touch with a 10-foot barge pole.

But the government-controlled media is already putting a spin on the betrayal - that Abdullah had to kowtow to party bigwigs; that he has yet to get the party mandate, and yes, we will have wait a little longer; and that there were no cases against these individuals, never mind the public perception.

We were prepared to forgive Abdullah for keeping these unsavoury characters in his candidates list for the recent polls. After all, he did not have the political clout to remove them.

He had asked for a huge mandate to do what he had to do. And he got more than what he wanted - not the two-thirds he was looking for, but a whopping nine-tenth majority.

Now that Abdullah is in an all-powerful position, he could use his awesome mandate to clean the slate. But days after the polls, he was already showing signs that he would fail those who have put their faith on him.

Reforms losing steam

When asked about the polling-day blunders committed by the Election Commission - a body tasked with the impartial management of free and fair elections - Abdullah quickly brushed the question aside.

The complaints by the opposition on the conduct of the polls may appear to be a case of sour grapes to some, but they cannot be easily ignored. Elections must be seen to be clean and fair, otherwise the legitimacy of the government will be in doubt.

Abdullah should know better. After all, his own party was ruled illegal after a leadership struggle which saw his ex-boss Dr Mahathir Mohamad winning by a sliver, a result which was tainted by allegations of 'phantom voters' from illegal branches.

EC chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, in a rare show of bravado, has indicated that he is ready to tell all. He wants an independent probe, one established by Parliament and to include opposition members as well.

He disclosed that the present rules on voter registration are so arcane that they should "be thrown into the river". According to him, "certain parties" had manipulated the laws to register millions of voters - something which he knew but "could not do anything about".

Surely Abdul Rashid is willing to tell the truth. But is Abdullah prepare to listen? Apparently not.

Spin doctors

It is startling too that the mainstream media dropped the issue the day Abdul Rashid called for a royal commission. Knowing how the government-controlled media works, it is certain that they have been told not to pursue the matter.

Clearly media reforms is not on Abdullah's agenda. He is the first of the country's five prime ministers to have exploited the media as never before - his aides exercise the power to turn the fourth estate on and off like a tap. Even Mahathir, the strongman he was, avoided such temptations.

Since he took over from his former boss, Abdullah's spin doctors have been working overtime to remould his image - he has become everything that Mahathir is not. The spin worked so well that Pak Lah was the unofficial reformasi candidate in last Sunday's polls.

No wonder Malaysians are willing to forget that this man is from the same party as Mahathir, and that there has been little ardour within the party for his reformist agenda.

Or perhaps Abdullah's aides figure that Malaysians would be satisfied with piecemeal reform - a little bit here and there, with the promise of more to come. With this - and barring major calamities such as an economic meltdown or a black eye on an ex-deputy premier - you can actually pull wool over the eyes of people.

High expectations

The message from the recent polls is clear - that Malaysians, whatever their political persuasion, want change. And most have pinned, nay, bolted, their hopes on one man.

However, one man alone cannot bring about reform. He needs the support of his party, the media, the opposition and the civil society. We can rule out his party and the government-controlled media for now.

And with an emasculated opposition, the burden now rests on the alternative media and the civil society to keep Abdullah on the straight and narrow.

The test of the pudding, as they say, is in its eating. On March 21, Malaysian voters served Abdullah a rather scrumptious pudding. Even he was taken aback.

We hope that in eating the pudding, Abdullah will not choke on his own words.