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

highly institutionalized party-state that he personally operated, manipulated and dominated. Dr. Mahathir and Malaysia not only had phonetic consonance,[1] but also shared an eerily similar eight-character identity, and were at times virtually synonymous.

Although Dr. Mahathir did not murder adversaries, as did some other Southeast Asian strongmen, he ruled in familiar authoritarian fashion. He selectively jailed without trial legitimate political opponents and civil society critics, as well as genuine terrorists and subversives. Impatient, he had no end of ideas about how to build Malaysia into a modern industrialized nation, but allowed nobody of stature to question his plans. The Malaysian media, run by his acolytes, functioned as an amen chorus, ever ready to lavish praise on the leader and ignore or discredit dissenting voices.

With a combination of ruthlessness and dexterity, Dr. Mahathir delivered social peace and sustained economic growth, introducing increasing numbers of Malaysians to middle-class comforts. Even if they were critical, few were willing to jeopardize their rising living standards, or risk ostracism and worse, to explore alternatives. Corporate Malaysia, hooked on constant economic expansion, lined up solidly behind Dr. Mahathir to keep the contracts — and profits — flowing. By the end of his 22-year tenure, Dr. Mahathir had remade the country in his own image and become Malaysia's "presidential premier".[2]

Far too late in the day, Dr. Mahathir's opponents realized that he played politics harder, faster and smarter than anyone they had encountered, making most of them look like rank amateurs. Although he became addicted to the job, Dr. Mahathir did not seek it for the perks or the payoffs. He had a mission, to bring about an economic and social revolution that would turn Malaysia into a fully developed and respected nation within a generation, with the Malays playing a prominent part. As that required his personal attention and leadership, political longevity was essential, regardless of the cost. The price could always be rationalized in terms of his project, which was for the good of the country. There was no higher priority than staying in power.

For Dr. Mahathir, a political animal, the ends justified the means, though he specifically denied it was a guiding principle.[3] After his retirement, two of his great rivals in UMNO, Musa Hitam and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, used the same word to describe Dr. Mahathir: He was, they said, a "politician". The term contained a grudging admiration for Dr. Mahathir's willingness and ability to do what was necessary to survive, unhindered by ethical considerations or the harm it might do to others. Both acknowledged his decisive advantage — a killer instinct, a readiness to go for the jugular at critical moments and venture beyond what previously had been acceptable behaviour in Malaysian politics — attributes they were pleased to report they lacked. Musa, who served as Dr. Mahathir's first deputy prime minister before quitting in acrimony, but ended up on comfortable terms with Dr. Mahathir, said, "When it suits him, he says 'today I love you'. Tomorrow, if it suits him, he says 'I hate you'. 'Today you are a lovely man, tomorrow you are ugly'. That's Mahathir, the politician."[4]

Their judgment did not rule out Dr. Mahathir being a caring doctor, a loving father or a firm friend, provided that friend did not get in his political way. Dr. Mahathir was adept at separating politics from his professional, social and family life. Author Rehman Rashid, who dated Marina Mahathir and found her mother to be the "quintessence of gentleness and grace", would thereafter find himself "unable to believe that such a woman would countenance the sort of man Mahathir's bitterest enemies were convinced he was".[5] Dr. Mahathir did not take politics home. He put politics in a completely different compartment. As he once reassured Musa, who invited Dr. Mahathir to his daughter's wedding but worried he would not attend because they had been quarrelling, "That is politics; this is friendship."[6]

Malaysians had never seen a leader quite like Dr. Mahathir, who appeared to be in perpetual motion. In contrast with his cautious predecessor, Hussein Onn, who was invisible much of the time and committed to keeping the country on an even keel, Dr. Mahathir produced initiatives "a million a minute", as one colleague put it. And he maintained the pace, taking a personal interest in almost every aspect of Malaysian daily life. He conducted spot checks of public toilets and would shock officials by phoning them directly to complain about untidiness and other evidence of neglect in their work. To save public spending, he cut his own salary and that of his cabinet ministers, reduced the number of civil servants and abolished some of their privileges.[7] Indefatigable, dressed in trademark open-neck bush jacket, he gave the impression he wanted to micro-manage the entire country.

Wrote Rehman Rashid, "After the greyness of Hussein, here was an electrifying personality, as much a visionary as Razak, but with infinitely more popular appeal...In his first months as prime minister, Mahathir was clearly, completely, a man in his moment."[8]

Although he had less time for his hobbies, Dr. Mahathir re-assembled his workshop at the prime minister's official residence. In the first few years he invented an Islamic toilet — actually, a variation on European and Japanese paperless commodes — that went into commercial production.[9] And he still found time to cook the occasional Sunday lunch for the family, usually something simple like fried rice, after venturing out to buy the ingredients himself. He joked that his older children "always find some sudden prior engagement" when they learned he was duty chef. At 60, Dr. Mahathir took up horse riding after visiting Pakistan and being escorted and impressed by Pathan cavalry guards.[10] He also learned to fly a twin-engine Cessna belonging to the Royal Malaysian Air Force.[11]

With discipline that had become second nature, Dr. Mahathir adopted a working routine that he adhered to religiously. After morning prayers, he would begin writing an article or speech, with pen and paper, continuing to do so even in the toilet. Having eaten, he would arrive