Malaysia’s new prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, paid his first official visit to the White House on July 19. He seemed to repudiate the legacy of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohammed, who is notorious for saying that “the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.” Mr. Mahathir also suggested that the Americans killed on September 11 could be considered collateral damage, and he condemned the war on terrorism as a “war against Islam”

Since Mr. Mahathir stepped down last fall, Mr. Badawi has been under some scrutiny with regard to Malaysia’s anti-Western posture. He had campaigned in the Malaysian general elections as head of the moderate Islamist Barisan Nasional party, denouncing “any form of extremism — religious or ethnic.” When Mr. Badawi met with President Bush, he not ed “differences on Palestine [and] on Iraq” between his country and America, but nevertheless maintained that the relationship between Malaysia and Washington “is certainly very strong.” And Malaysia, Mr. Badawi said, would aid the American-led reconstruction of Iraq by sending “a sizeable medical team” to Baghdad.

After meeting with Mr. Bush, Mr. Badawi delivered an address to the U.S. Asian Business Council that was even more remarkable.

“I am willing to commit my country to assist in the reconstruction of Iraq not only to help the people of Iraq,” he said, “but also because I view this as another manifestation of moderate Islam’s push against radicalism.” Let’s hope Mr. Badawi will lead other Muslim countries toward the sort of political reform he has promised for Malaysia.