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Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

Former Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad addressing the General Assembly on September 25, 2003

Order: 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia
Term of office: July 16, 1981 - October 31, 2003
Date of birth: July 10, 1925

(Often documented as December 20, 1925)

Place of birth Alor Setar, Kedah Darul Aman
Wife Siti Hasmah
Occupation Physician
Political Party: UMNO
Deputy PM:

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (born July 10, 1925) is the former Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post from 1981 to 2003. During his term in office he was credited for engineering Malaysia's rapid modernisation and the resulting growth of prosperity. Mahathir is also known to be a very outspoken diplomat both on the national and international stage. He has been a very aggressive proponent of "Asian values" and even more so, "Islamic values".

Although his formal title is "Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad", Mahathir is fondly called "Dr. M" by his supporters, an appellation also used by the media.

Life history

Born in Alor Setar, the capital of the northern state of Kedah, Mahathir said in his autobiography that he had Indian ancestry (from his father), with its origins tracing back to Kerala in India, while his mother was a Kedah-born Malay. Mahathir, however, considers himself to be a "full Malay", in line with Article 160 of the Constitution. Under Article 153 of the Constitution, Malays are granted particular rights not available to other citizens.

During WWII, he sold pisang goreng (banana fritters) to supplement his family income in the Japanese occupation of Malaya.

Mahathir first attended a Malay vernacular school before continuing his education at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Star. Mahathir then attended the King Edward VII Medical College in Singapore, where he edited a medical student magazine called The Cauldron; he also contributed to the The Straits Times newspaper anonymously under the nickname "Che Det". Mahathir was also President of the Muslim Society in the college [1] In 1953, Mahathir entered the then Malayan government service as a medical officer upon graduation. He married Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali — a former classmate in college — on August 5, 1956, and left the government service in 1957 to set up his own practice in Alor Star.

Active in politics since 1945, beginning with his involvement in the Anti-Malayan Union Campaign, Mahathir joined the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) upon its inception in 1946. As State Party Chairman, and Chairman of the Political Committee, he inadvertently angered some quarters with his proposal that the selection of candidates be based on certain qualifications for the 1959 general election. Hurt by accusations that he was scheming to put up candidates who were strongly allied to him, Mahathir refused to take part in the national election that year.

In the third general election of 1964, Mahathir was elected Member of Parliament for Kota Setar Selatan [2], defeating the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party's (PAS) candidate with a 60.2% majority. He lost the seat in the following general election in 1969 by a mere 989 votes to PAS's candidate, Haji Yusoff Rawa [3], after he categorically declared that he did not need Chinese votes to win. (Ironically, Mahathir won the 1999 general elections mainly due to Chinese votes, when the Malay grounds were split over his quarrels with his deputy Anwar Ibrahim.)

Following the race riots of May 13, 1969 in the May 13 Incident, Mahathir was sacked from the UMNO Supreme Council on 12 July, following his widespread distribution to the public of his letter to Tunku Abdul Rahman, the then Prime Minister. In his letter, he had criticised the manner in which the Tunku had handled the country's administration. Mahathir was subsequently relieved of his party membership on 26 September.[3]

While in the political wilderness, Mahathir wrote his book, "The Malay Dilemma" [3], in which he sought to explain the causes of the May 13 Incident in Kuala Lumpur and the reasons for the Malays' lack of economic progress within their own country. He then proposed a politico-economic solution in the form of "constructive protection", worked out after careful consideration of the effects of heredity and environmental factors on the Malay race. The book, published in 1970, was promptly banned by the Tunku Abdul Rahman government.[3] However, some of the proposals in this book had been used by Tun Abdul Razak, the second Prime Minister, in his "New Economic Policy" that was principally geared towards affirmative action economic programs to address the nation's economic disparity between the Malays and the non-Malays. The ban on his book was eventually lifted after Mahathir became Prime Minister in 1981.[3]

Mahathir rejoined UMNO on 7 March, 1972, and was appointed as Senator in 1973. He relinquished the senatorship post in 1974 in order to contest in the general elections where he was returned unopposed in the constituency of Kubang Pasu, and was appointed as the Minister of Education.[3] In 1975, he became one of the three vice-presidents of UMNO, after winning the seat by 47 votes. Tun Hussein Onn appointed Mahathir as Deputy Prime Minister on 15 September, 1978, and in a cabinet reshuffle, appointed him concurrently as the Minister of Trade and Industry.

Mahathir became the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 10 July, 1981 when Tun Hussein Onn stepped down due to health reasons. After 22 years in office, Mahathir retired on October 31, 2003, making him one of Asia's longest-serving political leaders. Upon his retirement on 31 Oct 2003, Mahathir was awarded a "Tun"-ship, Malaysia's highest civilian honour.

Economic policies

During his term in office, Mahathir turned Malaysia into a regional high-tech manufacturing, financial, and telecommunications hub through his economic policies based on corporate nationalism, known as the various "Malaysia Plans" which set out the government middle-term objectives. These policies remained in effect almost to the end of his tenure in office.

His pet projects have included Perwaja Steel, an attempt to emulate South Korea and Japan, the Proton car company, and Astro, a satellite television service.

Mahathir is credited with spearheading the phenomenal growth of the Malaysian economy, now one of the largest and most powerful in South East Asia. Growth between 1988 and 1997 averaged over ten percent and living standards rose twenty-fold, with poverty almost eradicated and social indicators such as literacy levels and infant mortality rates becoming on par with developed countries.

During this period, Mahathir embarked on various large scale national projects, such as:

While such projects have their benefits, corresponding high costs have made some Malaysians reluctant to engage in more of such ventures, believing that the money can be better spent on other areas of development. On the other hand, Mahathir has always argued that such projects yield a direct return to the economy, apart from just serving the national pride, as government spending in turn creates jobs along with other multiplier effects. Mahathir has also been criticised for the failures and inefficiency of some of his pet projects. Perwaja Steel eventually failed and had to be rescued by a corporate white knight. Its chairman, Eric Chia, faced charges of corruption in 2004. Proton eventually had to be bought by Petronas when its parent DRB-HICOM found itself over-extended. Astro enjoyed a monopoly on pay television services in Malaysia until 2005 when it ended with the granting of a licence to rival MiTV.

The Bakun Dam project was to be managed by a local construction firm, Ekran Berhad. It issued a 1-for-1 on time rights issue which was 63% undersubscribed (the first time in Malaysia for an event of this magnitude). Ekran's chairman, Ting Pek King, had to purchase all unsubscribed shares at a cost of $500 million Ringgit due to his agreement with the underwriters. Subsequently the dam project was taken back by the government which was obliged to pay Ekran for the work already completed.

Political machine

After his twenty-two year rule, Mahathir is still seen as a political "strongman". As Prime Minister, he was often criticised by the west for his authoritarian policies and use of state power to suppress opponents via the media, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.

In 1983 and 1991, he took on the federal and state monarchies, removing the royal veto and royal immunity from prosecution. Many Malaysians, were however pleased with this, as there had been frequent cases of abuse of power by the royal families. Prior to this amendment of the law, royal assent was required in order for any bill to pass into law. With effect of this amendment, approval by parliament could be legally considered as royal assent after a period of 30 days, notwithstanding the views of the monarchs. However, this only applied to secular laws and the various kings continued to enjoy the right to make Islamic law in their own jurisdictions.

In 1988, when the future of the ruling party UMNO was about to be decided in the Supreme Court (it had just been deregistered as an illegal society in the High Court), he was believed to have engineered the dismissal of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Salleh Abas, and three other supreme court justices who tried to block the misconduct hearings.

In 1998, attention around the globe was focused on Malaysia when the government brought sodomy and abuse of power charges against the former finance minister and deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar claimed that he was being set up because he had tried to turn corruption and nepotism into major political issues, with Mahathir and his associates as the targets. Many in Malaysia and the region, however, believe that it was Anwar's attempt to replace Mahathir as the Prime Minister, upon seeing the downfall of Indonesia's Suharto, that has led him to be removed from politics altogether. It was Mahathir after all, who had groomed and placed him there as his deputy.

At the UMNO meeting in June 1998, Anwar's supporters had planned a sneak attack on the prime minister, hitting him in the area where they consider him most vulnerable: corruption. Mahathir fired back, reading from a prepared list, the names of all ruling-party members who had benefited from government contracts. The list included some of Anwar's relatives. The corruption talk was quickly shelved.

Many observers also saw the engineering of Anwar's dismissal as the result of the triumph of the secular corporate nationalist old guard over the younger "green" or Islamist faction within UMNO, created after the popular Islamic youth leader, Anwar, had been brought into the government by Mahathir.

In separate trials, Anwar Ibrahim was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption and nine years prison for sodomy, to be served concurrently. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed serious doubts about the fairness of the trials. [2] [3]

The Anwar crisis sparked protests by some Malaysians, of all ethnic groups, and some of Anwar's supporters from UMNO regrouped around the intellectual-Muslim "Parti Keadilan Nasional" (National Justice Party). Failing to garner widespread support from Malaysians, "Parti keAdilan" could only win only two parliamentary seats in the 1999 elections. In the subsequent 2004 elections, the party was nearly wiped out, with Wan Azizah, the wife of Anwar, winning one seat by the narrowest of margins, mainly based on sympathetic votes, and thereon ceased to be relevant.

UMNO under Mahathir developed a feudalistic tradition whereby political factions battling to ensure the growth of so-called 'warlords' would gladly throw UMNO into chaos, rather than see their prominent champion miss out on appointment to plum posts. The Anwar debacle was an example of this, as was an earlier rebellion by UMNO strongman, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who broke away to form the "Semangat 46" (the Spirit of '46) party (now defunct).

UMNO heads were seen by opposition supporters as corrupt politicians more focused on power and economic gain, as Mahathir was only interested in their total loyalty. PAS leveraged this into a selling point by promising a clean, Islamic administration. Despite this, PAS only captured the state of Terengganu in the 1999 elections, and failed to retain it in the next election. This was largely seen to be due to PAS' fundamentalist Islamic policies, as they had introduced Islamic sharia laws into Terengganu and their other stronghold, Kelantan. These laws included banning various forms of entertainment, and mandatory wearing of the headscarf for female Muslim civil servants. Many political analysts felt that this had prevented PAS from making major gains, keeping the reins of power firmly in Mahathir's hands, as the non-Malay voters were turned off by the perceived religious fundamentalism of PAS. Also, Mahathir remained tremendously popular among many Malaysians, and the third world. He is known for being a man of few words, and for his largely successful policies in steering Malaysia towards development and economic prosperity. In the Asian financial crisis of 1998, IMF has prescribed a recovery package for Malaysia, but Mahathir defied international pressure, his then Deputy Anwar Ibrahim, and conventional wisdom, in rejecting the package. This eventually paid off, as Malaysia's recovery was relatively faster and better, as compared to many other Asian countries affected.

Ministries were alloted to all component parties of the Barisan Nasional. Even non-Malay parties obtained the ministerships of key ministries such as Health (MCA), Transport (MCA), and the Works Ministry (MIC). Certain ministries were also shared with one party traditionally getting the ministers post and another party getting the deputy ministership. This was standard coalition politics as with all other coalition governments who wanted to ensure everyone got a slice of the cake.

Educational system

See main article: Education in Malaysia.

In 1975, Mahathir was appointed Minister of Education. He had always believed in the need for "education for the masses", with greater emphasis on maths and science, at high school level, in order to achieve his dream of a developed Malaysia. He continued to strongly promote his agenda of quantity-and-quality higher education during his term as prime minister.

In those days, English, Chinese and Tamil-medium schools were fully run by private and missionary organizations. Students from these school sat for the respective overseas examinations set by the board of school committees and associations. For instance, Overseas Cambridge School Certificate (OSC) was set for english schools. Under the former Prime Minister's order, he drafted the KBSM syllabus in order to make Malay a compulsory subject to be taught in all subjects in these schools. Overseas examinations were subsequently abolished one after another throughout the years. Schools which converted to the national type received heavy fundings from the government. Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP) were fully introduced as national examinations.

In order to cater for the lower income indigenous population, boarding schools were promoted and constructed. Through government scholarships, tens of thousands of students were sent yearly to universities in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, western-type countries that Mahathir aspired to achieve par development with. Middle- and higher-income groups from non-Bumiputera Malaysians who were unable to get a place in the local universities, due to the restrictive quota system and limited government scholarships, also independently sent their children to these universities. This has led Malaysia to have the third largest number of students going to western-type countries to pursue higher education, after China and India. Till today, education is a major source of Malaysia's expenditure, something that the current administration is trying to remedy. After years of sending students abroad, Malaysian post-graduate and industrial research and development has still not shown any notable progress.

In 1980, education quota was introduced as part of the National Economic Policy. Mahathir who became the acting prime minister, introduced the quota system to all economic sectors in Malaysia including the education system, whereby a designated percentage of undergraduate seats of higher institutions were reserved for Bumiputra (natives) citizens. This has led to a large number of highly competitive non-bumiputra applicants being unable to secure admission to institutions of higher learning. These applicants resort to the neighbouring or foreign countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and the western countries mentioned above.

Towards his later years, Mahathir promoted the liberalization of university start-ups, leading to branch campuses being built or the formation of permanent tie-ups with some of the most prestigious universities in the world. Amongst others, these led to the construction of

Private companies with a long running history in Malaysia like Intel and AMD were also encouraged to set up, and run partnerships and/or higher education centres and centres of excellence.

In 2003, after more than 20 years in post, he commented that non-bumiputra students excel far ahead of bumiputra students in academic qualifications. He soon introduced meritocracy by gradually lowering down the quota percentage reserved each year for the intake of bumiputra applicants in higher institutions to encourage fair competitions. However, the public holds the opinion that education standards were better off during the British colonial era a shocking indictment for a modern, newly industrialised country and the man who made it possible. In the year before his retirement, he attempted to remedy this problem by announcing that Mathematics and Science subjects must be taught in English in all primary and secondary schools. As a result of this rapid transition, the new school textbooks contain numerous typographical errors, and school teachers who are not fluent in English suffer difficulties in their teachings. This also subsequently caused some resentment among the Chinese education community and the hard-line Malays.

Foreign relations

During Mahathir's tenure in office, Malaysia's relationship with the West was turbulent. Early during his tenure, a small disagreement with the United Kingdom over university tuition fees sparked off a boycott of all British goods led by Mahathir, in what became known as the "Buy British Last" campaign. It also led to a search for development models in Asia, most notably Japan. This was the beginning of his famous "Look East Policy". Although the dispute was later resolved by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mahathir continued to emphasize Asian development models over contemporary Western ones. Although Mahathir has managed to find solutions to many problems in Malaysia, ironically, he has managed to create more problems diplomatically, as seen with a great number of countries. These problems are usually small ones which crop up from personal matters, yet Mahathir always brings the Malaysian government into play, such as the imposition of boycotts.

United States

Mahathir has always been an outspoken critic of the United States but yet the United States was the biggest source of foreign investment, and was Malaysia's biggest customer during Mahathir's rule. Furthermore, Malaysian military officers continued to train in the US under the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.

Some allege that relations with the United States took a turn for the worse in 1998, when US Vice President Al Gore stated at the APEC conference hosted by Malaysia:

"Democracy confers a stamp of legitimacy that reforms must have in order to be effective. And so, among nations suffering economic crises, we continue to hear calls for democracy, calls for reform, in many languages - People Power, doi moi, reformasi. We hear them today - right here, right now - among the brave people of Malaysia."

Al Gore had been criticizing the charges made by Mahathir against Mahathir's former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, charges of sodomy and abuse of power. Anwar Ibrahim was the preeminent Malaysian spokesperson for the economic policies preferred by the IMF, which included interest rate hikes, among others. An article in Malaysia Today commented that "Gore's comments constituted a none-too-subtle attack on Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and more generally on governments, including Japan, that resist US demands for further market reforms." [4] Gore's endorsement for the reformasi (reformation,) asking for (among other things) the ouster of Mahathir, was anathema to Mahathir, and he remarked that "I've never seen anybody so rude." This also summed up the Malaysian expectation that one who is a guest should not show such discourtesy to the host.

However, Mahathir's views were already firmly entrenched before this event. For example, before the ASEAN meeting in 1997, he made a speech condemning The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, calling it an oppressing instrument by which the United States and other countries tried to impose their values on Asians. He went on to share his view that Asians needed stability and economic growth more than civil liberties. This did not endear him to Madeleine Albright who was a guest at the meeting.

The relationship was stormy both ways. Following Mahathir's ouster and imprisonment of Anwar Ibrahim, Madeleine Albright paid a visit to Anwar's wife.

Yet he has not hesitated to point to America for justification of his own actions. In speaking of arbitrary detention without trial of prisoners of conscience on Malaysia, he said: "Events in the United States have shown that there are instances where certain special powers need to be used in order to protect the public for the general good."

At the other end of the spectrum, the United States government has previously criticised the Malaysian government for implementing the ISA, most recently in 2001 when President George W. Bush said "The Internal Security Act is a draconian law. No country should any longer have laws that allow for detention without trial." In 2004, however, Bush reversed his stance and claimed "We cannot simply classify Malaysia’s Internal Security Act as a draconian law."

In 2003, Mahathir spoke to the Non-Aligned Movement in Kuala Lumpur, and as part of his speech, said: "If innocent people who died in the attack on Afghanistan and those who have been dying from lack of food and medical care in Iraq are considered collaterals, are the 3,000 who died in New York, and the 200 in Bali also just collaterals whose deaths are necessary for operations to succeed?"

Marie Huhtala, the American ambassador to Malaysia responded with a statement: "These are not helpful statements by any standard and I'm here to tell you that Washington does take note of them. They are bound to have a harmful effect on the relationship."

More recently, the 2003 Invasion of Iraq caused additional friction between the two countries; Mahathir was highly critical of Bush for acting without a United Nations mandate.

Notwithstanding the behaviour of Mahathir, Malaysia's relationship with the US has been strong. A 2003 house subcommittee hearing (Serial No. 108–21) on US Policy policy towards South East Asia sums it up as "Despite sometimes blunt and intemperate public remarks by Prime Minister Mahathir, U.S.-Malaysian cooperation has a solid record in areas as diverse as education, trade, military relations, and counter-terrorism."

Even after retirement, Mahathir was not hesitant about his criticisms of the United States. In 2004, (The Star, October 18, 2004), he was quoted as having said "The American people are, by and large, very ignorant and know nothing about the rest of the world.... Yet they are the people who will decide who will be the most powerful man in the world". In the same interview, he also predicted George W. Bush's victory in the 2004 United States Presidential Election, in which he was later proven correct.

Australia

Mahathir's relationship with Australia (the closest country in the Anglosphere to Malaysia, and the one whose foreign policy is most concentrated on the region), and his relationship with Australia's political leaders, has been particularly rocky. Mahathir regularly took offense at portrayals of Malaysia in the Australian media, calling on the government to intervene in this (an action that would be politically unthinkable in Australia). Relationships between Mahathir and Australia's leaders reached a low point in 1993 when Paul Keating described Mahathir as "recalcitrant" for not attending the APEC summit. (It is thought that Keating's description was a linguistic gaffe, and that what he had in mind was "intransigent".)[4] The Malaysian government threatened trade sanctions, which if imposed, would actually have more negative effect on Malaysia than Australia. [citation needed]

Mahathir, along with other Malaysian politicians (and many other Asian leaders) also heavily criticised Keating's successor, John Howard, whom he believed had encouraged Pauline Hanson, whose views were widely perceived in Asia (and Australia[5]) as racist.[citation needed]

Mahathir has valued the right of a nation to do whatever it wants within its borders, which he calls "sovereignty". This was articulated in the ASEAN policy of non-interference. In 2000, Mahathir was quoted as saying: "If Australia wants to be a friend to Asia, it should stop behaving as if it is there to teach us how to run our country. It is a small nation in terms of numbers and it should behave like a small nation and not be a teacher." He also said "This country stands out like a sore thumb trying to impose its European values in Asia as if it is the good old days when people can shoot aborigines without caring about human rights" and denounced Australia as the "white trash of Asia".

Mahathir also made remarks to the effect that John Howard was trying to be America's 'Deputy Sheriff' in the Pacific region. This was in response to John Howard's statement that they would pursue terrorists over the borders of their neighbours.

His perception of Howard has not softened after retirement. In an interview, he stated: "They (accepted) Blair, and I am sure they will accept Bush. They have already accepted Howard who told a blatant lie", a reference to the "Children overboard" scandal during the runup to the 2001 Australian elections.

Middle East

Mahathir is regarded by many, especially in the West, as an anti-Semite. In 1984, his government banned the performance of works by the Jewish composer Ernest Bloch, during a visit by the New York Philharmonic, specifically because of Bloch's religion. The Orchestra responded by refusing to play in Malaysia [5].

In 1997, during the financial crisis, he attributed the collapse of the Malaysian ringgit to a conspiracy of Jews against a prosperous Muslim state: "The Jews robbed the Palestinians of everything, but in Malaysia they could not do so, hence they do this, depress the ringgit." Under strong international criticism, he issued a partial retraction, but not in Malay-language media sources [6].

Under Mahathir, a leading critic of Israel, Malaysia was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, and established diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. (Israeli citizens remain banned from entering Malaysia and Malaysian citizens from Israel.) In 1986, a major diplomatic row erupted with neighbouring Singapore when Chaim Herzog, the President of Israel, paid a state visit.

On October 16, 2003 (shortly before he stepped down as prime minister), Mahathir said at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Putrajaya, "We Muslims are actually very strong, 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Nazis killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them." He also named Israel as "the enemy allied with most powerful nations." Israel strongly criticized the remarks. "The speech was also condemned by the European Union and Germany in particular, as well as by the United States, Australia and other Western states. Germany summoned Malaysia's charge d'affaires in Berlin to protest at the 'totally unacceptable' comments. Speaking for the EU, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Dr Mahathir had employed 'expressions that were gravely offensive, very strongly anti-Semitic and... strongly counter to principles of tolerance, dialogue and understanding'." At the same time, "His speech was defended by several Muslim leaders."[7]

Singapore

Mahathir is an alumnus of the National University of Singapore (previously named University of Malaya). He graduated as a physician from then King Edward VII Medical College in 1953, during British rule. He is held in high regard by his alma mater, and regularly attends reunions.

However, relations with Singapore under Mahathir's tenure have been stormy. Many disputed issues raised during his administration have not been resolved, and in fact have been exaggerated by both sides. Many of these international issues have been raised up under Mahathir's Premiership term, but no significant headway had been made then to resolve them bilaterally. Issues have included:

Both sides had stubbornly refused to compromise, with the result of bilateral relations turning frosty. The absurdity of the whole situation was illustrated by Mahathir's proposal to replace the Malaysian portion of the Causeway with half a bridge, with the end result, a crooked structure, being derided as ridiculous by citizens of both nations. Under Prime Minister Abdullah, and due to a change of leadership and tact in Singapore, relations have begun to thaw, and inter-citizen relations have gone on much as they have before in that they are totally independent of political bickering. Many Singaporeans and Malaysians have relatives on the other side of the Causeway, and despite the bickering of both governments over different issues, relations between citizens of both countries remained unaffected.

Recently, the issue of replacement of the Causeway with a bridge and the use of Malaysian airspace by the RSAF have been successfully solved by Mahathir's successor Abdullah, an issue that has been heavily criticised by Mahathir.

People's Republic of China

Though an anti-communist in his early career, Dr. Mahathir is highly in approval of the new directions adopted by the People's Republic of China (PRC) after Deng Xiaoping's ascension to power. Malaysia and the PRC maintained a close relationship since the late 1990s, when doubts and suspicions of China's ambition in ASEAN region were cleared, and Mahathir and Chinese leaders found many common grounds in their authoritarian style of ruling and their opposition to Western interference in regional matters. Mahathir is keen that the rise of PRC could to some extent balance the American influence in Southeast Asia, as well as benefiting Malaysia from the PRC's economic prosperity.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mahathir has been noted as a particular ally and sympathetic co-religionist of that nation. He visited Sarajevo in June, 2005 to open a bridge near Bosmal City Center signifying friendship between Malaysians and Bosnians.

He made another 3-day visit to Visoko to see the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun in July 2006.

Developing world

Among developing and Islamic countries, however, Mahathir remains greatly admired, particularly for Malaysia's impressive economic growth. Foreign leaders, such as Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, praised him and have been trying to emulate Mahathir's developmental formulae. He was one of the greatest spokesmen on Third World issues, and strongly supported the bridging of the North-South divide, as well as exhorting the development of Islamic nations. He was dedicated to various Third World blocs such as ASEAN, the G77, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Nations, and most recently, the G22 at the latest WTO talks at Cancún.

Retirement

In 2002, a tearful Mahathir announced his resignation to a surprised UMNO General Assembly. He was persuaded to stay on for a further eighteen months, in a carefully planned handover that ended in October 2003. On his retirement, he was granted Malaysia's highest honour, which entitles him to the title Tun from his original Datuk Seri. He is now (since retirement) an 'advisor' to the National Oil Company Petronas and the National Car Company Proton. He is also the head of Perdana Leadership Foundation, a foundation whose aim is to preserve, develop and spread materials regarding previous Prime Ministers or written by previous prime ministers. Since Mahathir has retired, he has still been very outspoken regarding national policies.

Shortly before leaving office, Mahathir sparked off a fierce controversy when at the 57-member "Organization of the Islamic Conference" (OIC) summit, he claimed that "the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them". [8] However, he also mentioned:" We also know that not all non-Muslims are against us. Some are well disposed towards us. Some even see our enemies as their enemies. Even among the Jews there are many who do not approve of what the Israelis are doing." On contrary many within the Jewish community rebuke his statement.

His comments were widely criticized in the West, but the issue was ignored in Asia and Islamic countries, which felt that his remark had been taken out of context. Mahathir later defended his remarks, saying: "I am not anti-Semitic ... I am against those Jews who kill Muslims and the Jews who support the killers of Muslims." He tagged the West as "anti-Muslim", for double standards by "protecting Jews while allowing others to insult Islam." also mentioning “But when somebody condemns the Muslims, calls my prophet, "terrorist", did the European Union say anything?" [9].In 2004, he stated that both Bush and Kerry avoided certain acts due to concerns that they would "annoy the Jewish group." However, his comments does not stop international criticism especially from United States and Israel.

In 2005, Mahathir brought up the issue of excessive awarding of Approved Permits (APs) to import cars, stating that they were creating too much competition for Proton, causing friction between him and Rafidah Aziz, the Minister for International Trade and Industry, who oversaw the awarding of APs. His successor, Abdullah, then announced that a National Automotive Policy (NAP) would be created to appropriately handle the issue. Later, when touching on the issue, Mahathir lamented the government's majority in Parliament, saying, "I believe that the country should have a strong government but not too strong. A two-thirds majority like I enjoyed when I was prime minister is sufficient but a 90% majority is too strong. ... We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right." [6]


The Anwar Saga

In 2nd September 1998, Mahathir sacked his then deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, out of the allegations that Anwar is a homosexual, a CIA agent and numerous other convictions. This generated mass demonstration among the Malaysians, and world wide condemnation haunted Mahathir for quite some years to come.


Spat with Abdullah

In 2006, Mahathir's relationship with his successor begins to be strained. In a press conference on 7 June 2006 at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, which he heads, Mahathir said that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was not his first choice as successor but it was the current Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, instead. He said that he felt hurt by allegations that he "finished all the government's money, and that the government was bankrupt" because of the mega-projects initiated by him during his tenure as prime minister.[7] Mahathir added that he has "...a habit of choosing the wrong people" when he was answering the question whether Abdullah had stabbed him in the back.[7] He has also criticised the present government's decision to scrap the plan to replace Malaysia's side of the Johor-Singapore Causeway. In his opinion, Malaysia does not need to seek the approval to build a bridge on its own soil. This and other such issues have led many to believe that UMNO is under the threat of splitting into Mahathir and Badawi factions. A statement was issued by UMNO to reassure the public that they wholeheartedly supported Badawi, although as of yet, no stand has been taken over the issue of Mahathir's membership in the party.

To make his voice heard, Mahathir decided to bid for to become a delegate from Kubang Pasu in the 2006 UMNO general assembly. This move, if successful, could bring great chagrin to Abdullah who seemed to use every form of censorship available to shut Mahathir up. Suprisingly, he failed to be elected as a representative, given the fact that Kubang Pasu is his stronghold for over three dacades. Later, an angry Mahathir claimed that the "establishment", meaning the present government were doing everything in their power--including, but not limited to using government machine that is normally reserved for general elections--to ensure that he didn't get elected. Mahathir even went as far as to allege--abelt, without proof-- that the interested party paid RM200 for every vote casted against him. Mahathir also challenged the government to put him into the jail if it wanted him to shut his mouth.

Other controversies

Former Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer, Tajudin Ramli claimed that he ( Tajudin ) was "forced" to buy out the shares of Malaysia Airlines by Mahathir during a period when the national carrier suffered financial difficulties. However, Mahathir denied this claim and said that he only asked if Tajudin was interested in the shares.

In 2006, he had a 2-hour talk with James W. Walter and William Rodriguez with regards to the US Government involvment in the 9/11 attacks [8].

Legacy

Largely due to the economic development of the country, which by and large has benefited all races, Mahathir left behind a peaceful, prosperous, and self-confident Malaysia, for which he has been granted the soubriquet of Bapa Pemodenan (Father of Modernisation).

However, critics claim he has also left behind few competitive entrepreneurs due to his heavily statist policies, much factional infighting in political parties, increased racial polarisation, and an entrenched system of corruption and cronyism. Since his resignation, there are signs that his influence is on the wane, notably the cancellation of a Mahathir-approved double tracking rail project on grounds of cost.

Moreover, his policies also came with a significant cost which Malaysians were reluctant to address as long as Mahathir was in control: The consequent distortion of free market dynamics is said to have fostered favoritism and inefficiency. Due to his statist policies along with the effects of the New Economic Policy, Malay-owned companies, resting on lavish government aid and subsidies, are extremely uncompetitive in Malaysia itself, let alone the world market.

Non-Malay firms, mostly owned by pro-Mahathir figures, have devoted most of their energies to trying to operate within this system as opposed to formulating and operating according to international capitalism, which explains their lack of noticeable effect on the global business scene. In private, Malaysians dubbed the favored group the 'UMNO-putras'. The extent to which cronyism is fostered is debatable, but the perception of it led to the depreciation of the ringgit during the 1997 financial crisis, and eventually to Mahathir's loosened grip on the sources of power.

However, on a more personal level, Mahathir remains an inspiration to the younger Malaysian generation due to his leadership abilities and his no-nonsense demeanour.

In most local caricature which portrays him, most of his appearance has been made distinguished by his oddly large nose. Cartoonist like Lat and Zunar are most popular with this caricature.

Chronology

  • 1925: Born in Alor Star, Kedah on July 10 (often documented as December 20).
  • 1945: Joined the Anti-Malayan Union Campaign.
  • 1946: Joined the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) as a member upon its inception.
  • 1953: Graduated as a physician from King Edward VII Medical College, Singapore (subsequently became the medical faculty of the University of Malaya;
    • Joined the Malaysian government service as a medical officer upon graduation.
  • 1956: Married Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali on August 5.
  • 1957: Left the government medical service to set up his own practice in Alor Star.
  • 1957: His first child Marina Mahathir was born in June, she is Mahathir bin Mohamad's eldest daughter.
  • 1958: Mirzan was born in November, it is his second child and first son.
  • 1961: Mokhzani was born in January, it is his third child and second son.
  • 1964: Elected Member of Parliament for Kota Setar South on an Alliance Party ticket, defeating the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party'(PAS) candidate with 60.2% of the votes polled.
  • 1964: Mukhriz was born in November, it is his youngest child and third son.
  • 1965: Elected as a member of the UMNO Supreme Council.
  • 1968: Appointed as Chairman of the first Higher Education Council.
  • 1969: Lost his parliamentary constituency of Kota Setar South to PAS's candidate, Haji Yusoff Rawa, by 989 votes;
    • Sacked from the UMNO Supreme Council on July 12, following the widespread distribution to the public of Mahathir's letter to Tunku Abdul Rahman, then Prime Minister and President of UMNO;
    • Relieved of his party membership on September 26.
  • 1970: Published "The Malay Dilemma" that was soon banned.
  • 1972: Rejoined UMNO on March 7.
  • 1973: Appointed as a Senator.
  • 1974: Appointed Chairman of the National University Council;
    • Relinquished the post of Senator in order to contest in the 1974 General Elections where he was returned unopposed;
    • Appointed as the Minister of Education on September 5.
  • 1975: Became one of the three vice-presidents of UMNO, after winning the seat by 47 votes.
  • 1976: Elected as Deputy President of UMNO on March 5.
  • 1978: Appointed Deputy Prime Minister by the then Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn on September 15;
  • 1981:
    • June 26: Elected as UMNO President at the party's 32nd Annual General Assembly;
    • July 13: Malaysia expelled three Soviet Union officials for espionage and Dr Mahathir's former political secretary, Siddiq Mohamed Ghouse, was arrested for spying for them.
    • July 16: Appointed or sworn in as Prime Minister of Malaysia at the age of 56 at Istana Negara, when Tun Hussein Onn stepped down for health reasons;
    • July 18: Dr Mahathir announced his new Cabinet, naming Tan Sri Musa Hitam as his deputy. It was the largest Cabinet the country has ever held. Plus, he concurrently took charge of the Ministry of Defence (July 18, 1981ad - May 6, 1986ad);
    • July 22: The Cabinet held his its first meeting. After the meeting, Dr Mahathir asked Malaysians to judge his administration a year from now.
    • July 30: Fourteen days after taking office, Dr Mahathir gave the go-ahead for the release of 21 ISA detainees.
    • July 31: Ban on Dr Mahathir's book "The Malay Dilemma", which was imposed in 1968ad, lifted. It soon became a bestseller.
    • August 6: Introduction of a punch card system for senior civil servants to cut out late arrivals and early departures at government offices. Later that year, Dr Mahathir implemented measures to get ministers and civil servants to wear name tags.
    • August 15: Dr Mahathir said the [[Comptroller and Au

Books

  • The Malay Dilemma (1970)
  • The Challenge (1986)
  • The Pacific Rim in the 21st Century (1995)
  • The Challenges of Turmoil (1998)
  • A New Deal for Asia (1999)
  • Islam & The Muslim Ummah (2001)
  • Globalisation and the New Realities (2002)
  • Reflections on Asia (2002) ISBN 967-978-813-X

Notes and references

  1. ^ Tan, Chee Khoon & Vasil, Raj (ed., 1984). Without Fear or Favour, p. 49, 50. Eastern Universities Press. ISBN 967-908-051-X.
  2. ^ Tan & Vasil, p. 50.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Tan & Vasil, p. 51.
  4. ^ Joseph Masilamany (2006-06-29). "Mending fences". theSun. Retrieved 2006-08-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Nicolas Rothwell (1998-07-16). "Upsetter tips the apple cart". The Australian. p. 4. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Krishnamoorthy, M. (Dec. 11, 2005). "Dr M: Stand up and speak out". The Star (Malaysia).
  7. ^ a b "Dr M slams Pak Lah but BN leaders rally behind the PM". The Star (Malaysia). 2006-06-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Bernama [1] pictures

Other references

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Preceded by Prime Ministers of Malaysia
1981-2003 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Deputy Prime Ministers of Malaysia
1976-1981 		Succeeded by
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