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Badawi coins new policy to goad Malaysian growth

AFP, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has stamped his mark on the economy in just 100 days in office, shifting away from mega projects and pledging to wipe out corruption to boost growth in one of Southeast Asia's leading economies.
Since succeeding veteran strongman Mahathir Mohamad on October 31, Abdullah has surprised the business community with some bold moves such as deferring a multi-billion-dollar rail deal and indicating a possible change to Malaysia's six-year-old currency peg against the dollar.
He has also promised to cut red tape and improve transparency in the award of government contracts to clean up graft and improve the business climate, while naming agriculture as a new priority sector.
"People were expecting a more cautious approach from the new
premier, that he wouldn't depart from Mahathir's style, but what we have seen in the past 100 days suggest otherwise," said Paul Schymyck, economist with Singapore-based IDEAglobal.
"There have been significant changes both in style and emphasis, and these were viewed positively by the market."
Faced with a towering budget deficit, Abdullah, who is also finance minister, has so far appeared to distance himself from the excesses linked to Mahathir's 22-year tenure when the government built the world's tallest twin towers, one of Asia's showiest airports, and a grand new capital at Putrajaya.
In his first major economic decision in December, Abdullah shelved a controversial rail deal, one of Asia's biggest infrastructure contracts, awarded by Mahathir to a local group without any bidding process, in favour of smaller devel-
opment schemes.
Last month, he said an agreement to sell Southeast Asia's largest hydroelectric dam in Sarawak state to a well-known tycoon had lapsed but decided to push ahead with the project. The Edge daily reported later that the government may scale back the capacity of the dam.
Both the rail deal and the Bakun dam project are linked to Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, a close ally of Mahathir, and analysts say Abdullah's moves reflected his pledge to be more transparent in awarding contracts.
But what is winning him applause from foreign investors is Abdullah's new flexibility towards the ringgit peg of 3.80 to the dollar, the last remnant of capital controls imposed in September 1998 by Mahathir to battle a recession caused by the Asian financial crisis.