Mahathir bin Mohamad

For more information on Mahathir bin Mohamad, visit Britannica.com.

(b. Alor Setar, Kedah, 20 Dec. 1925) Malaysian; Prime Minister 1981 – The son of a Malay headmaster of an English-medium school in Kedah, Mahathir was educated at Sultan Hamid College, Alor Setar, and the University of Malaya in Singapore where he qualified in medicine. He worked as a medical officer in Kedah and Perlis 1953 – 7 and as a general practitioner 1957 – 64 when he was elected Member of the House of Representatives for Kota Setar Selatan.

An "ultra" in the leading party, the United Malays National Organization, Mahathir was forced into the political wilderness after the 1969 race riots when he accused Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman of "giving the Chinese what they demand". He resumed medical practice and wrote The Malay Dilemma (1970) in which he diagnosed the causes for the economically inferior position of Malays in genetic and cultural terms and prescribed positive discrimination to ensure their position as the "definitive race". Although the government embarked on a similar course with its New Economic Policy, this book was banned because it touched "sensitive issues".

In the 1970s Mahathir was readmitted to UMNO and, after brief membership of the Senate, was elected to the House of Representatives as Member for Kubang Pasu in 1974. He served in the government of Tun Abdul Razak (1970 – 6) as Minister of Education (1974 – 7) and under Tun Hussein Onn as Deputy Prime Minister (1976 – 81) and Minister of Trade and Industry (1977 – 81). In 1981 he succeeded Hussein Onn as Prime Minister and president of UMNO.

As Prime Minister (an office he has combined with those of Minister of Defence 1981 – 6 and Minister of Home Affairs since 1986), Mahathir brought a new vigour to government and economic management. The first Malaysian Prime Minister not to have come from the Malay aristocracy nor to have been educated in Britain, he tilted at the special relationship with Britain and the constitutional privileges of Malaysia's king and sultans, while his "Look East" policy was inspired by Japan's economic success. Commanding an effective party machine, controlling the media, and benefiting from the country's remarkable economic growth, Mahathir has survived leadership contests, splits in UMNO, and challenges from the Islamic Party (PAS). The Barisan National (a coalition dominated by Mahathir's UMNO) has sustained an overwhelming majority in the federal parliament as a result of successive electoral victories.