A top university professor today argued that new Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's image is being sullied by the same charges of nepotism, which were levelled against his predecessor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"On abuse and nepotism, what is the difference with Mahathir's or (Sarawak chief minister) Taib Mahmud's sons, or (ex-MCA chief) Ling (Liong Sik)'s son or (MIC chief) Samy Vellu's?" said University Malaya academic KS Jomo.

"People are asking how does a condom salesman become one of the 10 richest Malays in the country - according to Malaysian Business - in less than a decade?"

Jomo, who is a lecturer at the Universiti Malaya's faculty of economics and administration, was referring to Abdullah's only son, Kamaluddin, who was in charge of selling male contraception for rubber plantation giant Sime Darby before becoming an overnight tycoon, who is worth an estimated RM1.14 billion.

Kamaluddin is owner of oil and gas firm Scomi, whose shares shot up more than 1,000 percent when it was listed last year.

Scomi has been recently embroiled in the nuclear black market scandal where its subsidiary, Scope, had admitted making parts allegedly to be used for enriching uranium for Libya's nuclear weapons programme.

However, Scope claimed that it had been misled about the purpose and destination of the parts and it was subsequently cleared by the police of any wrongdoing.

Referendum on Pak Lah

Meanwhile, Jomo told malaysiakini that he welcomed a referendum on the new premier but decried that the March 21 polls come too soon for Malaysians to make a proper decision.

"It is good to have a referendum on the PM, but that means providing people with some real basis for one. Instead, while there are a few much appreciated changes, so much more nonsense has not been touched. A few crumbs have been thrown our way, and we are expected to jump for joy and sign away our future," he said.

"If they truly want a referendum, then they should have held off the elections for a few more months, so we can see how serious his reforms are. Mahathir started in mid-1981, and then called the election in April 1982, almost a year later."

Abdullah, who took over from Dr Mahathir four months ago, have announced a crackdown on corruption which has led to the arrests of ex-Perwaja Steel chief Eric Chia and Sabah's Kasitah Gaddam, the former lands and cooperative development minister.

"We all know the ACA (Anti-Corruption Agency) has been sitting on many cases for a long time. So now, we have a long overdue prosecution on a case which involves less than one per cent of the Perwaja losses, publicly acknowledged under (ex-deputy premier) Anwar (Ibrahim)'s watch - that is, almost a decade ago.

He added that the case "largely involves people abroad, so do not be surprised, if it collapses or is withdrawn after the election".

"Then the AG (attorney-general) prosecutes a fellow Sabahan who became a minister for being one of the first to desert the PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) when it was in the opposition - that is a menteri katak , someone without any serious support in the party - while well-known and larger abuses involving many other serving ministers remain unprosecuted," said Jomo.

He also lamented that most ministers in the old cabinet - many of whom have been tainted with allegations of corruption and wrongdoing - are re-nominated to stand in this Sunday's elections and likely to be re-appointed to the next cabinet.

"Many people believe that most of the cabinet is crooked, but they have all been re-nominated except for the Sarawakians who wanted out anyway," he said.

"Besides (Umno veteran leader) Shahril (Samad), some of the other old hands nominated this time round are, perhaps, even worse, including a few Mahathir never even dared to nominate because everyone knew how crooked they were. And we are supposed to believe that this administration is serious about fighting corruption."

He added that the ruling Barisan Nasional government is seeking to win this election with a resounding victory by exploiting the 'feel good' factor engineered by Abdullah's 'spin-doctors'.

"Clearly, the spin-doctors are banking on the people not remembering the thousand and one issues around, big and small, from the economy to crime, from traffic woes to flash floods, from abuse of the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and the healthcare system to the computer labs fiascos and other jobs for the boys."

Huge budget deficits

Jomo, who is one of the country's most respected economists, conceded that the economy is improving but this was due to "international circumstances", not the success of the policies adopted after the financial crisis in 1998.

"Foreign investment has fallen since 1997, especially in 2001. The only reason the figure grew in 2002 was for petroleum and the Dubai bauxite smelting investment, which has since been cancelled.

"The other thing which has helped us is China, especially China's demand for palm oil and tourists from there and Muslim countries to Malaysia."

However, he warned that the country is running huge budget deficits.

"Meanwhile, unemployment is getting worse. The February 2004 employment figures clearly indicate things are getting worse," he said.

While Jomo welcomed the suspension of the RM14.6 billion railway double-tracking project - the country's most costly infrastructure venture - he said other mega-projects such as the RM4.5 billion Bakun dam, Southeast Asia's largest hydroelectric dam, have not been shelved.

"Bakun is still being built with few jobs created. And Bakun should be able to generate so much electricity, but Brunei and Indonesia do not want to buy it at such (high) prices. That is also partly why Dubai Aluminium pulled out, so what do we do with all that electricity generated, which could have been generated at much less cost with the natural gas from (Sarawak's) Bintulu," he said.

Tomorrow: Opposition risks being wiped out