Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Quotes
The world [is] now seeing might is right.
Badawi, Abdullah Ahmad. Press Statement on the Invasion of Iraq. Kuala Lumpur, 20 Mar. 2003.
She was referring to the fact that the military dictator of Pakistan would take billions of dollars of aid to facilitate Pakistan’s efforts in fighting the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, much of the money went into the pockets of corrupt government and military officials. The remainder strengthened the military somewhat but the Pakistanis used their military to pressure India—not to fight Islamic terrorists. The Pakistani military intelligence units actually assisted the worst of the Islamic terrorist organization so they could use them to launch terror attacks against Hindu India. Bhutto was running for the Presidency to change that; she was assassinated. Her husband won, and Pakistan for the first time has begun to fight back against the terrorists, but still protected those terrorists who would kill innocent civilians in India.
This was true at the time for most nations and their activities—the world was, and was perceived of, as a zero sum game. But with the modern world, much of international activity is not zero sum. In foreign trade both parties to a transaction might win. In scientific research, a win for one nation increases the benefit from all nations who use that research or build upon it.
Tun Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi is a Malaysian politician who served as the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009. He was also the President of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest political party (that time) 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 is also referred to as the "Father of Human Capital Development" (Bapa Pembangunan Modal Insan).
