Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times, Barry Wain [best mystery novels of all time .txt] 📗

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, "Disparities: Helpful Suggestions Needed", in The Early Years: 1947-1972 (Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing Sdn. Bhd., 1995), pp. 133-136.

Dato' Abdullah Ahmad, Tengku Abdul Rahman and Malaysia's Foreign Policy 1963-1970 (Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing Sdn. Bhd., 1985), p. 105. Interview with AbdullanAhmad, 1 August 2008. Dr. Mahathir confirmed Ismail's comments: email correspondence with Mahathir Mohamad, 20 August 2008.

Karl von Vorys, Democracy without Consensus: Communalism and Political Stability in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1976), p. 372.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 23 March 2007.

Ibid.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 14 August 2007.

Interview with Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, 17 January 2008.

Interview with Mukhriz Mahathir, 22 March 2007.

Dato' Abdullah Ahmad, Tengku Abdul Rahman and Malaysia's Foreign Policy 1963-1970, p. 19.

Interview with Shaari Daud, 27 February 2007.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 31 March 2008.

Ibid.

Khoo Boo Teik, Paradoxes of Mahathirism, p. 23.

Mahathir bin Mohamad, The Malay Dilemma (Singapore: Times Books International, 1999 edition).

John Funston, "Political Careers of Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim: Parallel, Intersecting and Conflicting Lives".

Ibid.

Dr. Mahathir stood by his controversial views that Malays were disadvantaged by hereditary and environmental factors. Asked in retirement if he disowned his arguments in view of scientific evidence, he said, "No. I think there is a basis for that." Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 14 August 2007. Only on one point, that the Malays lacked the ability and confidence to succeed, did he change his mind. "I admit that at the time I felt very disappointed. I spoke to many people my age then who did not have the confidence. I too was not confident that Malays could achieve success. Now I reverse my stand. I no longer believe what I had written in The Malay Dilemma," he said. "We Can Do It: Dr. M No Longer Holds to Views Expressed in 'Malay Dilemma'", Star, 12 May 1997.

Cited in John Funston, Malay Politics in Malaysia, p. 255.

Mahathir bin Mohamad, The Malay Dilemma, p. 79.

Zainuddin Maidin, The Other Side of Mahathir (Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Publications & Distributors Sdn. Bhd., 1994), p. 44.

Ooi Kee Beng, The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr. Ismail and his Time (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2006), pp. 268-269.

John Funston, "Political Careers of Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim: Parallel, Intersecting and Conflicting Lives".

Shamsul A.B., "UMNO's Politics: Past and Present", in Trends no. 39, distributed in Business Times, 27-28 November 1993.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 23 March 2007.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 26 February 2007.

The chief minister of a Malay state formally is called the mentri besar.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 26 February 2007.

Interviews with Abdullah Ahmad, 26 February, 23 March 2007.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 30 May 2007.

Joseph Chinyong Liow, The Politics of Indonesia-Malaysia Relations: One Kin, Two Nations (London: Routledge, 2005), p. 132.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 14 August 2007.

Ibid.

Interview with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, 21 March 2007.

Musa Hitam, "We Were Followers", Far Eastern Economic Review, 9 October 2003, http://www.feer.com/articles/2003/0310_09/p024region.html (accessed 19 January 2006).

Interview with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, 29 May 2007.

Barry Wain, "Malaysia Ex-Premier Still Keeps His Hand On the Nation's Pulse", Asian Wall Street Journal, 12 May 1977.

Asia 1977 Yearbook, Far Eastern Economic Review Ltd., p. 228.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 23 March 2007.

Interview with Musa Hitam, 3 January 2007.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 26 February 2007.

Interview with Musa Hitam, 3 January 2007.

S. Husin Ali, Two Faces (Detention Without Trial) (Petaling Jaya: INSAN, 1996), p.l09.

Zainuddin Maidin, The Other Side of Mahathir, pp. 73-74.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 20 March 2007.

Zainuddin Maidin, The Other Side of Mahathir, p. 73.

Samad Ismail passed away on 4 September 2008, aged 84.

Interview with Abdullah Ahmad, 30 May 2007.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 14 August 2007.

Interview with Musa Hitam, 3 January 2007.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 14 August 2007.

Interview with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, 29 May 2007.

Ibid.

Interview with Musa Hitam, 3 January 2007.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 31 March 2008.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 14 August 2007.

John Funston, "Political Careers of Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim: Parallel, Intersecting and Conflicting Lives".

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 31 March 2008.

Zainuddin Maidin, The Other Side of Mahathir, p. 72.

Interview with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, 21 March 2007.

Interview with Mahathir Mohamad, 31 March 2008.

Part II

Prime Minister for Life, Almost

(3)

From Outcast to Presidential Premier

Although he swept into office with the intensity of a typhoon, Dr. Mahathir moved cautiously to consolidate his position as leader of both UMNO and Malaysia. Taking command of the political party that had expelled him 12 years earlier, he had to contend with adversaries who regarded him as a usurper to be opportunistically deposed. While introducing activist domestic and foreign policies and managing a spate of financial scandals, he gave little indication initially that he would rewrite the political rulebook and become the longest-serving and most controversial premier in the nation's history.

As Dr. Mahathir imposed his forceful personality and priorities on the political system and the country, however, he engaged in bitter contests with UMNO pretenders, resulting in two major upheavals. After barely retaining the presidency in an election in 1987 that split the party in half, he drove out his enemies and rebuilt UMNO according to his requirements. Engineering procedures within the party so that he would never again be threatened, he turned annual meetings into orchestrated, made-for-TV productions that showcased his supremacy and presented an image of unity. His crude dismissal and persecution of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998 irrevocably tarnished Dr. Mahathir's credibility and created a crisis of legitimacy for UMNO among the Malays, but still he managed to retain his authority, select a successor and retire at a time of his own choosing.

Simultaneously, Dr. Mahathir weakened state and informal institutions and packed them with loyalists to facilitate his autocratic rule. In the most egregious case, he intervened to subdue the judiciary and ensure it would yield the results he sought when his political control was endangered. In the National Front government, the Malaysian Chinese Association and the Malaysian Indian Congress — stalwarts from the early days when they, with UMNO, constituted the ruling Alliance — found themselves downgraded. Across the years, Dr. Mahathir transformed the regime in Malaysia into a