Badawi also pointed out that voices of extremism and militantism existed on both sides but that those voices in one's own body politic were often seen as patriotic or righteous and that their quickness to counsel adversial and coercive policies had to be resisted from within as well as from without.

There was nothing really new or surprising about the contents of the speech but it was a most instructive experience to see the man live in action and unmediated by the mass media. My initial impression of him, as he delivered his speech, was of a kindly, mild-mannered gentleman. He had a slight physical stature, stooped slightly forward, glancing at the audience with quick peeks while reading from his text. But he became more animated whenever he had occasion to mention his ideas about Islam hadari or balancing spiritual with material development. One could sense these under-currents when he spoke about how, with Malaysian advocacy, the OIC was becoming more than a place to talk about political issues, with concrete economic and financial cooperation schemes were now more regularly on the agenda.

I had read press coverage about his emphasis on rural and agricultural development during the Malaysian General Election of 2004 but I was still surprised by how passionately, how ardently he spoke about it during the Q&A. It was fascinating to watch the Malaysian Prime Minister talk at length, with deep conviction emanating from his voice, face, gestures, about creating interest and sharing knowledge with less developed Muslim countries about oil palm estate management or about developing secondary light industries to produce fresh packed, cordials, freeze dry, chutney and other products from mangoes (high praise for Pakistan's mangoes) or about how to bring down the price of a chicken egg from three ringgit down to 30 sen from better poultry farming methods or teaching the mechanisation of padi cultivation to less developed Muslim countries.

In response to a question implying that Islamic government as the only route to development and international peace for Muslim countries, he firmly answered that the secular and Islamic dichotomy was an unhelpful one to apply to governance, taking several swipes at PAS. He went on to quote the Koran to support his arguments that any government that is fair, just and concerned with the welfare and betterment of its people was in accordance with Islamic principles.

A Malaysian I spoke to after the talk remarked that Badawi certainly had a very different style from the pugnaciousness of his predecessor. But having come out on top in the highly competitive environment of inter-party and intra-UMNO politics, he is clearly no featherweight or seatwarmer. Having seen him in person, it's hard to avoid sensing a strong desire to help bring development to rural Malaysia and less developed Muslim countries. In other words, a skilled politician who comes across as a person with conviction.

IISS blurb:

Dato' Seri Abdullah won his first election for the Parliamentary seat of the Kepala Batas constituency in 1978, (a seat he has retained since). In the same year, Dato' Seri Abdullah was appointed to his first post in the administration of the Government of Malaysia, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Territory Ministry. He was then promoted to Deputy Minister in the same Ministry in 1980. Dato' Seri Abdullah later held the post of Minister in the Prime Minister's Department from 1981 to 1984; and Minister of Education from 1984 to 1986; Minister of Defence from 1986 to 1987; and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 15 Mar 1991 to 1999. In January 1999, Dato' Seri Abdullah was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs. Dato' Seri Abdullah is now the Minister of Finance as well as the Minister of Internal Security.

Dato' Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi became the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia on 31st October 2003.