By Nermine Khattab

Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamed; one of Asia’s most influential leaders. Known in the Western world as an opinionated and honest critic of the Western civilization. Pragmatic, visionary and ambitious Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister transformed his homeland into an Asian economic tiger.

Personal Life

Mahathir Mohamed was born on July 10, 1925, in Alor Star, the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia, to an Indian father and a Malay mother. In spite of being only half Malay, Mahathir generally considers himself to be Malay. After attending a Malay local school, Mahathir Mohamed continued his college education in Alor Star. Later he attended Medical College in Singapore where he was President of the Muslim Society. Upon graduation in 1953, Mahathir Mohamed joined the Malayan government service as a medical officer.

In 1956, he married Siti Hamah binti Hajji Mohamad Ali, another medical doctor. They have five children, three sons and two daughters. He successfully underwent a heart bypass operation in 1989 at age 63.

Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamed’s long journey in the political arena started in 1945, with his involvement in the Anti-Malayan Union Campaign. In 1964 he was elected Member of Parliament for Kota Setar Selatan in the third general election.

A year later, Malaysia was rocked by racial riots and ethnic arguments around the national languages and the political parties, also known as the May 13 incidents. These incidents caused Mohamed to lose his seat in the parliament, upon expressing his opinions against the Chinese.

After the May 13 incidents, Mahathir wrote his book “The Malay Dilemma”; a controversial book written 11 years before he became prime-minister. In his book, Mahathir analyzes the Malaysian history and politics in terms of race and explains the reasons for the Malays’ lack of economic progress within their own country.

Later in 1981, Mahathir was elected prime minister and in time most of the policies suggested in the book were adopted by the Malaysian government.

According to Mahathir, politics is an important element in the human society, and it means granting authority to a person or a party to maintain law and order, for the welfare of the community. However, such person or party must be subject to the system of accounting and auditing so as not to misuse the granted power.

It is clear that his medical education was beneficial in his political career; as Mahathir Mohamed was known to offer a different customized solution after identifying and evaluating each situation.

He was able to identify that communication between Malaysians and the Islamic movements were important factors in the success of his political career. In his speeches, he was sure to stress on the importance of the relation between Islam and the welfare of the society. His development strategy enabled him to maintain balance between all the different ethnic groups.

Economic Policies Transformation

 “Look East”—to Japan and South Korea—was Mahathir Mohamed’s slogan and objective for transforming the once poor and backward Malay economy that mainly relied on mining and agriculture, into a strong, industrialized and modernized economy.

The Malay economy drastically changed during Mahathir Mohamed’s time as prime minister. Change required major transformations in the local economic policies, such as privatization, deregulation and financial liberation.

“We must do what works, when something no longer works for us, we must go to other strategies, policies and measures- quickly”, Mahathir Mohamed’s words in his book Globalization and the New Realities, which was published in 2002. In his book, Mahathir explains that the government and people must be flexible enough to cope with a fast changing world. In other words, more attention should be given to results and the real objectives that need to be achieved.

Exports became Malaysia’s primary growth engine; growth rate reached 7%, along with a low inflation rate in the 1980s and the 1990s.

1997 Asian Financial Crisis

Major changes occurred in 1997 in Malaysia. Foreign Direct Investment fell sharply causing financial capital to flow out of the country. Accordingly, the Malay currency, (the Ringgit) devaluated against the US dollar. Furthermore, the Malaysian stock exchange faced major losses along with several ASEAN countries. The Bank Negara of Malaysia was unable to prevent the crisis after more than 10 billion US dollars were spent on unsuccessful monetary operations.

To recover from the financial crisis, the government had to impose several monetary policies. Such as regulating the flow of money in and out of the country, known as Capital Controls, as well as stabilizing the Malaysian Ringgit.

Malaysia, like other countries that were hit by the crisis, was offered economic aid from the International Monetary fund, which came with certain lending conditions. However, such aid was refused by the Malay government. By refusing aid and thus the conditions, Malaysia was not affected to the same degree in the Asian Financial Crisis as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. After the financial crisis, the IMF and the World Bank acknowledged that Mahathir Mohamed’s approach had proved successful.

Transformation of the Multi-ethnic Society

Despite the fact that the Malays are the indigenous Malaysian population, the abundance of natural resources such as water, potential agriculture, and fishing attracted several people from neighboring countries.

In addition to this, the British occupation worsened the ethnic crisis; as the British opened the doors for the Chinese immigration, to serve their interests in Malaysia. This flood of population empowered the Chinese as they came into control of the country’s commercial and industrial projects.

In overcoming the ethnic crisis, Mahathir expressed his strategy that he was not against any ethnic groups in particular, but that he was particularly supporting the Malays, to gain a fair portion of the wealth of the country.

Results of Mahathir’s attempts to bridge the gap between the Malays and the other ethnic groups were clear. The entire population became capable of working together, avoiding conflicts and maintaining focus on reducing losses and maximizing gains from the process of globalization and the economic transformation of their country.

Acknowledging the western values of orderliness, discipline and firm social organization, as important factors in economic success, Mahathir Mohamed implanted these values into the Malay socio-economic environment. The results were major behavioral changes necessary for economic transformation. Those actions were also useful as Mahathir’s attempts to bridge the gap between the Malays and the other ethnic groups proved successful.

“Malaysia should not be developed only in the economic sense. It must be a nation that is fully developed along all the dimensions: economically, politically, socially, spiritually, psychologically and culturally. We must be fully developed in terms of national unity and social-cohesion, in terms of our economy, in terms of social justice, political stability, system of government, quality of life, social and spiritual values, national pride and confidence”.—Mahathir in his book The Way Forward.

Mahathir successfully lead the Malay population with all its ethnic groups, different cultural backgrounds and different languages to thrive and acquire a competitive edge in the global market economy. Such is considered an achievement, as economic success was achieved, while peace and stability were maintained between all the different ethnic groups.

Educational System Transformation

Mahathir Mohamed believed in education and the important role it plays in the development of every society. He also believed that improvement of the educational system was also beneficial in dissolving the barriers between all the ethnic groups as Malays started going to schools with their Chinese and Indian counterparts.

Some of the changes in the educational system included the establishment of boarding schools, which allowed people from low-income ethnic groups to be educated. Also government scholarships gave chances to many students to pursue their education in Western countries. Before his retirement, Mahathir Mohamed announced that mathematics and scientific subjects must be taught in English.

Retirement

In 2002, Mahathir Mohamed resigned his post. He was persuaded to stay for a further 18 months. On his retirement, he was granted Malaysia’s highest honor. Since his retirement, he has been serving as an advisor to the Malaysian national oil company Petronas.

The Legacy

During the 22 year of his work as a prime minister, Malaysia has changed from an agricultural economy to a rapidly progressing nation. Mahathir, a leader with exceptional vision, has transformed, industrialized and modernized the Malay economy. Evidence of Malaysia’s prosperity can be seen across the country; the 452-meter Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, known as the tallest building in the world, the strong financial systems, the fast growing telecommunications industry, all prove that Malaysia is a newly industrialized country.

References

* Wikipedia. Malaysia. Wikipedia. Accessed on 15 July, 2008

* Wikipedia. Mahathir bin Mohamad. Wikipedia. Accessed on 15 July, 2008.

* BBC News. Profile: Mahathir Mohamad. BBC News. Accessed on 17 July, 2008.

* David Camroux. Mahathir: National Hero, Gobal Bad Boy. SciencesPo. Accessed on 18 July, 2008.

* Globalization.icaap.org. Accessed on 15 July, 2008.

* Gatsiounis, Ioannis. Mahathir's Mixed Legacy on Race. Worldpress.org. Accessed on 16 July, 2008

* Mahathir Mohamed. “Globalization and the new realities”. Pelanduk Publications 2002, page 236.