Abdullah (10/31/03 – 04/03/09): "
10/31/03 – Officially stepped up as the 5th Malaysian Prime Minister. He also replacing Tun Mahathir as the Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
03/21/04 – Won the 11th General Election with a landslide majority of 198 seats out of 219 (90.4%) in the House of Representatives. 76% of seats in 1999.
09/10/04 – He presented his maiden 2005 Budget, that was seen by many as maintenance-oriented as opposed to the growth policies emphasized by Mahathir.
10/20/05 – His late wife, Endon Mahmmod died of breast cancer.
03/31/06 – Abdullah presented the Ninth Malaysian Plan, allocating RM230 billion for 5 years term (‘06 - ‘10). Agriculture and biotechnology were the main focus. This was when the ‘corridors’ plans started.
07/13/06 - A free trade agreement between Japan and Malaysia took effect Thursday, enabling the two countries to scrap tariffs on essentially all industrial goods and most agricultural, forestry and fishery products within 10 years.
07/30/06 – Iskandar Malaysia was officially established as part of the new main southern development corridor in Johor, Malaysia. It is the first of the 5 Development Corridors to be launched.
09/11/06 – Stepped down as the Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and replaced by Fidel Castro of Cuba.
06/09/07 – After 20 months after losing his late wife, he finally married Jeanne Abdullah and the ceremony was done at the Seri Perdana, the PM residential.
07/30/07 - After a year of the establishment of the first corridor, Abdullah launched the second corridor named Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) encompassing the states of Perlis, Kedah, Pulau Pinang and the north of Perak. (2nd Corridor)
10/30/07 – Abdullah launched the 3rd development corridor named East Coast Economic Region (ECER) which covers states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and the north of Mersing district of Johor. Petronas is the master planner for this project.
01/29/08 - The Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) was launched. A total investment of RM105 billion ($29.2bil) was expected to be invested until 2025 and up to 900,000 new jobs to be available. (4th Corridor)
02/11/08 - The Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) was launched as part of the transformation of Sarawak into developed state by 2020. (5th Corridor)
03/08/08 – BN coalition won the election only with easy majority, by winning 140 seats out of 222 (63.1%). Opposition coalition, PR, swept 36.9% of the seats and also managed to rule 5 states. Abdullah won the Kepala Batas seat with a majority of 11,232 votes.
05/19/08 – Mahathir left UMNO after openly criticized Abdullah for his governing strategies and asked him to step down as the PM. About 1000 Kedah UMNO members followed his decision to left UMNO.
06/04/08 – Abdullah announced the new (and ridiculous) prices of gasoline, diesel and electricity. Gas price increased by 40%, from RM1.92 to RM2.70, while diesel price increased by RM1 to RM2.58. He also said that Tenaga Nasional Bhd would be raising electricity rates by 18% for homes and 26% for business users.
06/18/08 – SAPP leader, Yong Tek Lee annouced to file a no-confidence motion against Abdullah as the PM in the Dewan Rakyat
07/10/08 - Abdullah announced he would step down as UMNO President and Prime Minister in June 2010. He announced that he would transfer power to DPM Najib Razak, a move aimed at reducing the level of political uncertainty in the country
09/17/08 – SAPP officially announced that it will no longer be part of the 14-party of BN coalition. Its two MPs will show support to PR in the House. On that same day, he handed over his finance ministry portfolio to his deputy Najib Razak
10/08/08 - Abdullah announced that he would step down in March 2009 paving the way for Deputy Najib to succeed him.
12/15/08 – The petrol price was yet again dropped (6th since the increase) from RM1.90 to RM1.80, lowest since July 2005.
01/01/09 – The former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA @ SPR) was officially rebranded to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC @ SPRM) after Abdullah was pressured to act on and fight against the corruption in Malaysia.
04/03/09 - Officially stepped down as the Prime Minister, and handed over to Najib as the 6th Malaysian Prime Minister. He was later conferred the title ‘Tun’ by the Agong, DYMM Sultan Mizan.
Note:
1. The five development corridors are the Iskandar Malaysia, Northern Corridor Economic Region, East Coast Economic Region, Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy and Sabah Development Corridor, all of which would require a total investment of RM840 billion (US$221billion).
2. After BN won the 12th General Election in 2008, the KLSE stock prices plunged more than 350 points from the highest of 1,305.09 (04/28/08) to the lowest of 863.73 (03/10/09). The stock market lost more than 80 point in the first week of election alone. KLSE gained 20 points on the day after his act of resignation on April 3.
“This post will be updated regularly as new information gathered”
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