Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister of Malaysia for twenty-two years and then returned to the office at ninety-two. Born in Alor Setar in 1925, the son of a schoolteacher, he sold coffee and bananas during the Japanese occupation, trained as a doctor in Singapore, and practised in Kedah. He was expelled from UMNO in 1969 after writing an open letter blaming the prime minister for the race riots of that year, and wrote The Malay Dilemma, which was banned. He was readmitted and rose to become prime minister in 1981. His programme was rapid industrialisation directed by the state. He built the North-South Expressway, the Petronas Towers, a national car company, and a new administrative capital, and moved the economy from tin and rubber into electronics manufacturing. Growth averaged around six to seven per cent for two decades, and the poverty rate fell sharply. He continued the New Economic Policy of preferential treatment for ethnic Malays in education, employment and equity, which reduced inequality between communities and entrenched a patronage system. During the 1997 Asian crisis he refused an IMF programme, imposed capital controls and pegged the ringgit, which was condemned at the time and is now widely regarded as having worked. His rule was authoritarian. He detained opponents under the Internal Security Act, curbed the press and the courts, and had his deputy Anwar Ibrahim dismissed, beaten in custody and imprisoned in 1998. He retired in 2003, returned in 2018 in coalition with Anwar to defeat a corrupt successor, and resigned in 2020 amid manoeuvring.
- Lived: 1925 CE – ?
- Nationality: Malaysian
- Roles: head_of_state, statesman, politician
