Many people who do not know prime minister-designate Abdullah Ahmad Badawi very well might be tempted to describe him as 'Mr Nice Guy'.
That is true, to a certain extent. But beneath the pleasant and calm exterior lies a leader who is fiercely determined to rid Malaysia of some of the ills that have plagued the nation. Chief among them: corruption among civil servants.
Mr Abdullah, who is set to take over from Mahathir Mohamad in November, says that more than half the 1,352 people arrested for corruption between 1998 and last year were civil servants. 'This is an alarming situation and we must take immediate steps to curb the problem,' he said.
He means business. 'Corruption is a terrible disease that can hurt our competitiveness and image because it brings about a loss of public confidence in the civil service,' he said.
Mr Abdullah's latest comments were timely. Recently, two enforcement officers from Kuala Lumpur city hall issued a summons to a couple on trumped-up charges of indecent behaviour in a public park near the Petronas Twin Towers.
The visitors, from Penang, said they were sitting on a bench at about 5pm, when two officers approached them to say they had been seen hugging and kissing and that such acts were not allowed under by-laws for public parks.
According to Ooi Kean Thong, a 23-year-old teacher, and his student girlfriend, Siow Ai Wei, 20 - who both denied the allegation - the officers said the summons would lead to a fine of between RM300 and RM500 (HK$600 and HK$1,000). But they then proposed to 'settle' the matter for RM50 and wrote down Mr Ooi's particulars.