Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir bin Mohamad

File:Mahathirmohamed.jpg
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:	Musa Hitam (1981 - 1986) Ghafar Baba (1986 - 1993) Anwar Ibrahim (1993 - 1998) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (1998 - 2003)

Mahathir bin Mohamad (born July 10, 1925) was the Prime Minister of Malaysia 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 could also be very outspoken, although some may say that he shoots his mouth off sometimes, and has been an internationally controversial figure. He has been a very aggressive proponent of "Asian values" and even more so, "Islamic values".

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

Life history

Born in Alor Star, 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.

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 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 Malay 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 , 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 , 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 racial riots of May 13, 1969, 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.

While in the political wilderness, Mahathir wrote his book, "The Malay Dilemma" , in which he sought to explain the causes of the May 13, 1969 riots 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. 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.

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. 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. He resigned as Prime Minister on October 31, 2003 after 22 years in office, 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:

• the North-South Highway, which has cut transport times in half on the west coast of Malaysia;
• the Multimedia Super Corridor, a flagship project based on Silicon Valley designed to enable Malaysia's foray into information technology (it includes Malaysia's new administrative capital Putrajaya);
• Port of Tanjung Pelepas;
• the glittering Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, and an adjacent Formula One circuit;
• the Bakun Dam, meant to supply all of the electricity needs of the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and which has enough capacity to enable exportation of power to Brunei. The project has since run into various difficulties and controversies, leading to at first, its cancellation and then its revival as a greatly scaled down project.
• Olympic-class stadium in Bukit Jalil; and
• the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world, and the world's tallest building from 1997 to 2003, that have become symbolic of modern Malaysia.

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. [1] [2]

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 indian schools were fully run by private and missionary organizations. The students from these school sat for the respective oversea 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 order, he drafted the KBSM syllabus in order to make Malay as the national language 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 receive heavy funds from the government. Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP) were fully introduced as the 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 R&D 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 the Bumiputra (natives) citizens. This has rendered a large number highly competitive non-bumiputra applicants from admission to the higher institutions. These applicants resort to the neighbouring or foreign countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and etc.

Towards his latter 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 the construction of

• The University of Nottingham in Malaysia (in partnership with the University of Nottingham, UK)
• Malaysia University of Science and Technology - MUST (in partnership with MIT (USA) and Motorola)
• Monash University Malaysia (in partnership with Monash University, Australia)
• Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Campus (in partnership with Curtin University of Technology, Australia)

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 excellance.

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 he steps down for 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.

Shortly before he resigned as Prime Minister and after series of debates, the government decided to make English to be included in all Mathematics and Science subjects along with the current Malay language as the teaching medium and examination format. 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. 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." [3] 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".) The Malaysian government threatened trade sanctions, which if imposed, would actually have more negative effect on Malaysia than Australia.

Mahathir, along with other Malaysian politicians (and many other Asian leaders) also heavily criticised Keating's successor, John Howard, for allegedly encouraging Pauline Hanson, whose views were widely perceived in Asia as racist, and harking back to the earlier White Australia policy. Pauline Hanson was a former member of the Liberal party, and while her One Nation party had no direct connection with John Howard's party, it was widely perceived in Australia and elsewhere to be tacitly condoned by Howard

Mahathir has valued the right of a nation to do whatever it wants within its borders, which he uses the word "sovereignty" for. 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. 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, which had nothing to do with Malaysia at all.

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."[[4]]

Singapore

Mahathir is an alumnus of the National University of Singapore (previously named University of Malaya). He graduated as a physician from their 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:

• the low price of raw water paid by Singapore to Malaysia (3 Malaysian cents (US$0.008) per 1000 gallons);
• the proposed replacement of the Causeway by a suspension bridge to improve water flow through the Straits of Johor (later cancelled by Mahathir's successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi);
• Singapore's land reclamation work, affecting shipping access to Port Tanjung Pelepas;
• the use of Malaysian airspace by Republic of Singapore Air Force jets;
• the status of Pedra Branca Island (also known as "Pulau Batu Putih"), now being brought to the International Court of Justice; and
• the sovereignty of the railway line crossing Singapore and Points of Agreement regarding the matter.

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.

China

Though an anti-communist in his early career, Dr. Mahathir is highly in approval of the new directions adopted by China after Deng Xiaoping's accession to power. Malaysia and China 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 China could to some extent balance the American influence in Southeast Asia, as well as benefiting Malaysia from China'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". [5] 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?" [6].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."

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 prome 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. 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. 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.

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 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;
  • Relinquished the Education portfolio to become Minister of Trade and Industry (June 1, 1978 - July 1981;
• 1981: Elected as UMNO President on June 26;
  • Appointed as Prime Minister of Malaysia on July 10, when Tun Hussein Onn stepped down for health reasons;
  • Concurrently took charge of the Ministry of Defence (July 18, 1981 - May 6, 1986);
  • Launched the slogans for a "Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy Government"; "Leadership Through Example", the "Look East Policy"; "Permeation of Islamic Values", and "Buy British Last";
  • Moved the clock by half an hour in Peninsular Malaysia to bring it in line with East Malaysia;
  • Made a public apology to Tunku Abdul Rahman;
  • Engineered the dawn raid in Malaysia’s takeover of Guthrie Corporation by Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNB) in the London Stock Exchange on September 7 to return ownership of some 200,000 acres (800 km²) of agricultural land to the people.
• 1983: Removed royal veto, such that a bill could become law on approval by parliament;
  • Initiated Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional, a national car project.
• 1986: Musa Hitam resigned as Deputy Prime Minister on February 27;
  • Appointed Ghafar Baba as Deputy Prime Minister;
  • Concurrently took charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs on May 7;
  • A major diplomatic row erupted with neighbouring Singapore when Chaim Herzog, the President of Israel, paid a state visit.
• 1987: Narrowly warded off a challenge by Tengku Razaleigh for the post of UMNO president on April 24.
• 1988: 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, when the future of the ruling party UMNO was about to be decided in the Supreme Court (it had previously been deregistered as an illegal society in the High Court);
• 1990: Took over the Ministry of Home Affairs (October 1990 - January 1999);
• 1993: Appointed Anwar Ibrahim as Deputy Prime Minister;
  • Limited the legal immunity of the monarchy, after the Douglas Gomez incident;
  • Relationships between Mahathir and Australia's leaders reached a low point when Paul Keating described Mahathir as "recalcitrant" for not attending the APEC summit. [It is thought that Keating's remark was a linguistic gaffe, and that he actually meant "intransigent".]
• 1997: Introduced the currency peg to resolve the 1997 Asian financial crisis on September 1.
• 1998: Sacked his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim;
  • Relations with the United States took a turn for the worse, when US Vice President Al Gore made a derogatory statement at the APEC conference hosted by Malaysia.
  • Brought trumped-up sodomy and abuse of power charges against Anwar Ibrahim following a disagreement on certain political issues;
  • Appointed Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Deputy Prime Minister;
  • Official opening of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, built at a cost of USD$3.5 billion;
  • Completion of the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world;
  • Named as "Asia's Newsmaker of 1998" by TIME Magazine.
• 1999: Took over the Ministry of Finance on January 8;
  • Official opening of Cyberjaya, a township that is a key part of Malaysia's "Multimedia Super Corridor".
• 2001: Took over the Ministry of Special Functions on June 5.
• 2002: Announced that Mathematics and Science subjects will be taught in English, rather than in Malay with effect from 2003;
  • Announced his resignation to the UMNO General Assembly, but was persuaded to stay on for a further eighteen months.
• 2003: Retired as Prime Minister of Malaysia on October 31, after 22 years in office, making him one of Asia's longest-serving political leaders;
  • Awarded the Tun-ship, Malaysia's highest honour.

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 967978813X

References

Other references

• Greider, William (1997). One World, Ready or Not. Penguin Press. ISBN 0-713-99211-5.
• Hong, Carolyn (Oct. 31, 2005). "Mahathir dismisses talk of comeback". Straits Times.
• Kamarudin, Raja Petra (Nov. 9, 2005). "The Anwar Factor". Malaysia Today.
• Kamaruddin, Raja Petra (Nov. 4, 2005). "The true meaning of political doublespeak". Malaysia Today.
• "Malaysia auto plan seen as another wake-up call to Proton". Associated Press.
• Nazri, Syed (Nov. 6, 2005). "When will Dr M tell all?" New Sunday Times, p. 19.
• Sanusi, Azim (Nov. 6, 2005). "Siapa sebenarnya Dr M? Suatu penelitian saintifik" New Sunday Times, p. 19.

External links

• BBC Profile: Mahathir Mohamad
• Turkish Daily News, from Mahathir's final days in office
• Islam the Misunderstood Religion by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
• Perdana Leadership Foundation website on Malaysia’s past Prime Ministers.
• BBC News: Mahathir in his own words
• BBC News: In Pictures: Mahathir steps down
• Asiaweek: Al Gore's rebuke of APEC host Mahathir
• Text of Dr Mahathir's speech to the OIC on Oct 16, 2003
• Dr M slams Pak Lah but BN leaders rally behind the PM