Although the mainstream media, both local or regional, tried to make Malaysians and the world believe that Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi or Pak Lah is the hope for a better Malaysia in the post-Mahathir period, I strongly disagree. Many of my friends are also very skeptical.

However, we have no other means to express our opinion, except through this little corner of freedom in malaysiakini . I hope we would not be disappointed.

First and foremost, Abdullah was educated only in religious studies in a local university. The subject has no relevance and application to modern finance and global economy. Hence, both local business and international communities are wary of his leadership.

After three years as the premier-in-waiting, nobody is convinced he has economic leadership. True, he could engage think-tanks, or even appoint someone else to be the finance minister, but without a personal sense of economics and finance, it would be difficult to control or coordinate his subordinates like Rafidah Aziz who may have personal interest in policies-making.

As a businessman, I am certainly worried about the future with Abdullah as the prime minister.

The second reason is that he has never been elected democratically in Umno, but all the vice-presidents were otherwise. It means that he lacks political legitimacy vis-a-vis Najib Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin and Muhammad Muhd Taib. How would he choose his deputy from one of them? By what standards, rights and criteria would he make the choice?

Najib, while most senior and obtained most votes among the three elected vice-presidents, is not popular in his constituency as reflected by his narrow victory by a margin of only 241 votes in the 1999 general election.

True, he is English-educated and connected to the wider world, but he lacks Malay as well as Islamic credentials for him to be popular at a time when Malays/Muslims are confronting an identity crisis.

Both Muhyiddin and Muhammad have no national appeal. They are merely regional chiefs in Johor and Selangor respectively. Moreover, both of them were Malay-educated, not English, and they do not have any technical skills. While Muhyiddin is not mired in any sexual and marital scandals, the same cannot be said of the other two vice-presidents.

Muhammad, moreover, is on public record of having been caught at an airport in Australia for possession of a huge sum of cash which source is still unknown. Can Malaysia afford to have a deputy prime minister from any of these three Umno vice-presidents without being made a laughing stock of the world?

If Abdullah decides to open the deputy presidency post for a democratic contest in order to avoid making a personal choice, then public opinion would question him as to why only the deputy post is elective, while he himself is appointed. Why not also open Umno's presidency for democratic voting to establish Abdullah's legitimacy and credential?

Otherwise, in this age of a more open society and higher standard of education among younger Malaysians, Abdullah will certainly not be genuinely respected by younger generation of Malays who are more educated and enlightened.

The greatest worry is that without any public commitments to drastic and genuine reforms in the cabinet, judiciary, police and official media, many ordinary Malays simply do not believe Abdullah to be a hopeful alternative to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Moving into a political structure and successors appointed by Mahathir in the cabinet, judiciary, police and the official media, Abdullah will simply become their puppet. Any removal of the old guys in the establishment must be carried out in the next one or two months, so that younger ones who are personally loyal to him can consolidate their positions in these vital sectors of power.

Otherwise, I strongly believe most of the Malays, including reform-minded public servants will continue to identify him as merely a new top manager of the same old and unreformed company, and continue to vote for the opposition.

But has Abdullah the political will and capability to do so in the next one or two months? I hope Malaysians would seriously and honestly debate these questions and problems.

Think of the interests of the whole country and its future first. No more personality cult in the post-Mahathir era. Let intellectual and political meritocracy first prevail within Umno before it can set an example to others.