Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Who is Abdullah Ahmad Badawi?

Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi is a Malaysian politician who served as Prime Minister from 2003 to 2009. He was also the President of the United Malays National Organisation, the largest political party in Malaysia, and led the governing Barisan Nasional parliamentary coalition. He is informally known as Pak Lah, 'Pak' meaning 'Uncle' while 'Lah' is taken from his name 'Abdullah'. He also called Father of Human Capital Development.

After Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad sacked Anwar Ibrahim, he appointed Abdullah as Deputy Prime Minister. Abdullah went on to succeed Mahathir as Prime Minister in 2003.

In the 2004 general election, Abdullah scored a significant victory. In the 2008 general election, the Barisan Nasional won a slim majority of seats, but lost the two thirds majority. He stepped down in favor of his successor, Najib Tun Razak, during the UMNO General Assembly held on 1 April 2009. On 3 April 2009, he was succeeded by Najib Tun Razak as Prime Minister.New Malaysian PM sworn in, Al Jazeera Archived 15 February 2011 at WebCite Abdullah was then conferred the title Tun by his majesty Mizan Zainal Abidin for his service to the nation.Exit PM Pak Lah, enter Tun Abdullah He called Bapa Pembangunan Modal Insan.Archived 15 February 2011 at WebCite