Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must demonstrate stronger political will over the next 12 months in order to fulfill his pledges of a clean, trustworthy and people-oriented government, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said.

The next 12 months are going to be a difficult year and the prime minister must focus on how the cabinet, Parliament and the civil society can pool their resources to ensure more conducive conditions in the next year to launch a meaningful fight against corruption, injustices and inequalities, he said in a statement to mark Abdullah's first year in office as prime minister.

Saying there is little that is substantive in terms of institutional and structural changes had been achieved in Abdullah's first year in office, Lim also lamented that in some important areas, Malaysia had in fact gone backwards.

Examples he gave were four recent international indices in the past one month, namely the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2004, Global Competitiveness Report 2004, Third Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2004 and the global study on e-government in the fourth annual e-government survey by Rhodes Island-based Brown University.

All these surveys showed Malaysia being ranked much lower than in previous years.

The DAP leader also expressed shock that no cabinet minister or Barisan Nasional leader apart from Abdullah seems to be concerned or bothered about the adverse 2004 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, as if the challenge of a clean and incorruptible government is no business of theirs but the personal hobby horse of the prime minister.

Recent scandals

"This must be why despite Abdullah's repeated pledge for a clean and incorruptible administration, he could not prevent the scandal of the worst money politics in the history of Umno party elections last month followed by an equally scandalous 'Datuk politics' with 84 new Datuks conferred by a small state like Malacca," he added.

"Similarly, there had been no high-level cabinet or BN concern about the 18-place drop of Malaysia's ranking in the RSF's 2004 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, when freedom of the press and information play such a critical role in fighting corruption and ensuring accountability, transparency and good governance.

"The very fact that these adverse international indicators have been ignored or buried away is the strongest evidence that Malaysia, under Abdullah after one year, has still to regain its status as a normal country," he added.

Lim said that the opposition would want Abdullah to succeed in his far-reaching reform programme to repair the ravages wrought to good governance by two decades of concentration and abuses of power.

"Abdullah can be assured of opposition and popular support if he is prepared to trample on the vested interests of the powers-that-be to keep his pledges of clean, just and good governance," he added.