The soft-spoken devout Muslim leader has surprised critics and supporters alike by taking an exceptionally firm stand against corruption and extremism since replacing Dr. Mahathir Mohammed last October. He has also delivered the type of pointed criticisms of both the West and the Islamic world for which his predecessor was noted, but without the deliberately racist, anti-Semitic invectives that largely overshadowed Mahathir's otherwise important message. Ironically, the absence of such rhetoric, while making the remarks more acceptable, also resulted in minimal international coverage.

Abdullah Badawi

Undemocratic government, oppression, poverty and poor governance all contribute to terrorism and must be addressed. Most significantly, he acknowledged the need to "confront the militant teachings in the peripheries and discredit them," noting the need to "radically alter the curriculum of religious schools" in some countries.

But Badawai also said the broader international community and especially the United States were also in denial. He pointed to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Iraq as prominent among the root causes of terrorism that are not being sufficiently addressed. While critical of past actions, he noted that the latest plan for Iraq offered "some hope."

Most of Badawi's criticisms of the United States were indirect, but nonetheless pointed. When he observed that "we are not only refusing to recognize some root causes, we are consciously and deliberately aggravating them," it was pretty clear which "we" he had in mind. He was perhaps also somewhat disingenuous when he observed that the Geneva Convention had been "brutalized," and that "such inhuman actions will not be easily forgotten or lightly forgiven."

True, but the U.S. government exposed, condemned and is actively investigating the abuses at Abu Ghraib — unacceptable actions that appear to be not unlike (and perhaps even less egregious) than those now being alleged as occurring in Malaysian detention centers.

There is a growing recognition in Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia that actions in one country affect the interests of the others and thus cannot be ignored, noninterference principles notwithstanding. This is especially critical in the case of Myanmar (Burma), because Rangoon is expected to assume the rotating Association of Southeast Asian Nations Chair in 2006, setting the stage for a showdown with ASEAN's regional dialogue partners (including the United States) if progress has not been achieved in pursuing Myanmar Prime Minister Khin's "road map to democracy."

This can only occur through continued constructive engagement with Myanmar's ASEAN colleagues, perhaps especially Prime Minister Badawi, given Malaysia's lead role in integrating the black sheep of ASEAN into the flock. Let's hope his actions are as firm and direct as his words.