Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, affectionately known as "Pak Lah", is the fifth and current Prime Minister of Malaysia. Abdullah was born on November 26, 1939, in the northern Malaysian island of Penang. He received a Bachelor of Science in Islamic Studies from the University of Malaya in 1964. He held a series of civil service posts, including deputy secretary general (1974-78) in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, before entering politics. Abdullah was elected to parliament in 1978 for his constituency in Kepala Batas (Penang), and begin his rise in the government and UMNO, serving as education (1984-86), defense (1986-87), foreign (1991-99) and, finally, deputy prime minister (1999-2003) following the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim. In 2003 he succeeded Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad as prime minister of Malaysia. Calling for modern and progressive Islamic rule as well as reform, he led the Barisan Nasional coalition to a stunning landslide victory in the 2004 parliamentary elecitons, by winning 198 out of 220 seats in parliament, and wresting control of the Terengganu state government back from the opposition.
But however he cited a great lost by losing 5 states (inclusive of Kelantan which he failed to curb from PAS) to the opposition’s line up while leading the BN coalition during 2008 general election and formed the federal government with a simple majority by winning 140 out of 222 parlimentary seats.
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