A Doctor in The House: A Memoir of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

The West has called him recalcitrant, racist, anti-Semitic and arrogant. The developing world, however, sees former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a visionary champion, the rare leader who gave every Third World individual reason to stand tall. Even his harshest critics cannot deny that, above all else, he gave some of the most neglected countries courage, showing the way to a more hopeful future.

But it was not without controversy. His 22 years at the country’s helm has been characterised as both dictatorial and inspiring. Few leaders have been able to turn an entire country from a predominantly agrarian economy into an industrial powerhouse—fewer still have been able to do so within a short two decades.

Here, with surgical precision, Dr Mahathir explores a nuanced history and scrutinises his own role in the shaping of modern Malaysia.

In his 22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohamad transformed his country from an agricultural backwater into an industrial powerhouse that would become the 17th-largest trading nation in the world.

This remarkable achievement was not without controversy, and Dr Mahathir’s extraordinary vision and iron grip earned him both enemies as well as ardent admirers within and outside Malaysia. He has been described—typically and paradoxically—as a tyrannical dictator, a bête noir, as well as an inspiring, courageous and outspoken defender of the downtrodden, the Third World, and moderate Islam.

At almost every turn Dr Mahathir rewrote the rules. This autobiography reveals the workings of that extraordinary mind, which has witnessed every major development in Malaysian history from the Second World War and the MacMichael Treaties, to independence, industrialisation and the making of modern Malaysia, culminating in the political and financial crises of the late 1990s and the challenges of the new millennium.

This book reveals hitherto unknown aspects of this intensely private, but publicly bold, statesman. It provides a clear and compelling narrative of modern Malaysian political history as seen through the eyes of one of its greatest shapers. It is neither an apology nor a defence, but a forceful, compelling and often exciting account of how and why Dr Mahathir achieved what he did in so short a time.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003. He lives in Kuala Lumpur.

A Doctor in the House:
The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
By Mahathir Mohamad
ISBN 978-967-5997-22-8
ISBN 978-967-5997-87-7 (ebook)

Published by
MPH Digital
(a division of MPH Group Publishing Sdn Bhd)
Lot 1, 1st Floor, Bangunan TH, No. 5 Jalan Bersatu 13/4
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
email: [email protected]

Resold by
www.mphonline.com
3rd Floor, Bangunan TH, No. 5 Jalan Bersatu 13/4
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
email: [email protected]

Copyright © 2012 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission from the copyright holder.

Photographs courtesy of Perdana Leadership Foundation and The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad
Produced by Salt Media Consultancy Sdn Bhd
Cover photograph by Tara Sosrowardoyo

For Hasmah and my children,
for their love, support,
tolerance and courage.

This is the story of Malaysia as I see it. This is also my story.

I have written about the wisdom of our founding fathers who crafted a political system that has enabled the country to democratically and peacefully resolve the problems and challenges inherent in a complex society.

Malaysia may not be styled after the liberal democracies of the West, but it is led by governments elected by the people at the central and state levels. Not many former colonies have been able to make democracy work. We have. In Malaysia, Opposition candidates can win, and be successful enough to gain control of state governments, if not the central government. Although the Alliance Party and its successor, the Barisan Nasional, have won all the national elections since Independence, there have been exhilarating highs and worrying lows. As I write this, the coalition remains vulnerable, having lost five states to the Opposition at the 2008 General Election. To regain its robustness, Barisan Nasional must make an honest assessment of its virtues and its failings, and must be prepared to take radical measures if it is to be a relevant and effective leader of Malaysia in the new millennium.

Because of pragmatic policies, Malaysia made a smooth transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial one. The sons and daughters of subsistence farmers and fishermen now work in air-conditioned factories, handling delicate instruments and producing sophisticated products for the world market.

Today, Malaysia is among the most developed in the developing world. It plays a significant role in international affairs, focusing mainly on the injustices perpetrated by the wealthier nations against poorer ones. It has been one of the most outspoken of Islamic countries.

We have flourished economically. Kuala Lumpur, an unknown capital of 300,000 inhabitants at Independence, has been transformed into a cosmopolitan city of more than two million. Its skyline is characterised by impressive buildings led by the luminous PETRONAS Twin Towers, once the tallest in the world. Our development plans have always taken into account the needs of the day and those of the distant future.

I played some part in all this but it would be remiss of me not to credit my predecessors for Malaysia’s phenomenal progress. They set the foundation—and I only built on it. Without their sound judgment and foresight, my task would have been significantly harder.

These memoirs must naturally contain a focus on my role, but essentially it is about my beloved Malaysia, a country which has given me—indeed, all Malaysians—a good life. There will be other books about Malaysia, even about me, from other perspectives. But I hope that here, I have done justice to my country.

In writing this book I have been assisted by many people. My wife Hasmah encouraged me when I despaired over ever finishing it. She made it possible for me to work with peace of mind, organising my daily schedule to accommodate my writing time. My daughter Marina found a team of journalists and researchers to assist me. It was headed by Rose Ismail and included Fatimah Abu Bakar, Sharon Nelson and Shareem Amry. They went through my manuscript and re-arranged it, giving me valuable tips.

Matthias Chang, my former political secretary helped with suggestions and encouragement. My other children and many friends urged me on.

Fauziah Ismail and Laila Jaafar who have been part of my staff since my years in office, never tired of typing and retyping my drafts, corrections and new drafts. Every chapter was redone at least five times. There was never a word of complaint from them, even when, after typing the draft for the fifth time, I decided to rewrite the whole chapter.

There are several others whose contributions are too many for me to list. I thank them all.

I still wonder if this book is readable. I am assured that it is. But my doubts remain.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad
2011

I became the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia on 16 July 1981. Like other UMNO leaders before me, I had dreamt about becoming a member of the Cabinet, even Prime Minister. But I did not believe it would really happen. Until the moment I stood before the King waiting to be sworn in, I remained a highly unlikely candidate to attain the highest office in the country.

The odds had always been stacked heavily against me. I did not come from the Malay ruling elite. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, the nation’s first Prime Minister, was a prince, the son of the Sultan of the state of Kedah.
[1]
 He was also a former Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Superintendent of Education. The Tunku, as he was warmly referred to by all strata of society, was in the Kedah Civil Service and was used to heading government departments. His elevation to Prime Ministership did not go against the social conventions of that time.
 

Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the second Prime Minister, came from a distinguished family of administrators. His father was a senior civil servant in the Pahang
[2]
 state government and Tun Razak himself was Pahang State Secretary before he became involved in politics. After the Federation of Malaya was established in 1948, he became the 
Menteri Besar
, or Chief Minister, of his state. Holding the number two position in UMNO, he became Deputy Prime Minister and was the natural successor to the Tunku.
 

As with Tun Razak in Pahang, my predecessor Tun Hussein Onn belonged to the elite of Johor
[3]
 society and, like all his family, was close to the Johor palace. His father and grandfather had both served as 
Menteri Besar
 of Johor. With them, heading government administration was a family tradition.
 

I, on the other hand, was a commoner, the son of a former schoolteacher who was drawing a monthly pension of RM90 at the time I became involved in politics. Malays were then still feudalistic and not at all used to commoners rising above their station. But I broke the mould and paved the way for them to head the Government of Malaysia. Today, an ordinary person who becomes Prime Minister is given the same respect as anyone from the ruling classes.

The first three Prime Ministers were also all lawyers trained in London. I was a medical doctor from the University of Malaya in Singapore.  That alone put me at a disadvantage. Medicine was not considered the best qualification for a Prime Minister. Lawyers were deemed fit for the office because of the legislative functions involved in governance. Doctors, it was held, had no training in the intricacies of law and administration.

I was also a rebel and a troublemaker. I had no protector. I was expelled from UMNO in 1969 for daring to criticise the Tunku. This alone should have ended my political career. There was a precedent for this. Aziz Ishak, the former Agriculture Minister in the Tunku’s first Cabinet, had promoted setting up a fertiliser factory to help local farmers who relied on a foreign producer for their supply. The move displeased the Tunku, who did not want to upset the foreign company, and he dropped Aziz from the Cabinet. He was eventually expelled from UMNO and was never allowed to rejoin.
[4]
 

I was more fortunate. I was eventually reinstated but my troublesome record should have precluded me from holding senior posts in the party or Government. I had no family ties with the top brass and under normal circumstances would not have gone far. My political salvation came from Tun Razak, who overlooked my behaviour with the Tunku and smoothed my way up by making me a full Minister after I won a seat in the 1974 General Election.

Until recently, political convention here dictated that one was first made Parliamentary Secretary and then Deputy Minister before being elevated to full Ministerial rank. I bypassed these two apprenticeship stages.

Understandably, quite a few in UMNO who were far more senior than I did not take kindly to my leapfrogging. But for Tun Razak, I would have had very little chance of reaching the top. When he died in 1976, my only protector was gone.

Even when he was still alive I had to step carefully. One friend, Datuk Harun Idris, the 
Menteri Besar
 of Selangor
[5]
 who had helped bring me back into UMNO after my expulsion, believed that I had undermined his chances of a vice-presidency in the 1975 UMNO elections. I ran in that same race and narrowly defeated him. Harun and his children never quite forgave me, but I never forgot what he did for me. He was later charged in court and found guilty of corruption, but he was released from prison during my time as Prime Minister.
[6]
 In 1986, Harun and his son aided Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, then an UMNO Vice-President, when the latter challenged my presidency of the party in that year’s UMNO elections.
 

Even an endorsement from the top man did not secure the support of senior party members. When Tun Hussein made me Deputy Prime Minister in 1976, I faced continuing opposition from powerful party members such as the ageing UMNO Youth leader Tan Sri Syed Jaafar Hassan Albar, who died of a heart attack while campaigning in Johor. And soon after my appointment as Deputy Prime Minister, two of my close friends were arrested for allegedly being pro-communist.

Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad and Abdullah Majid were Deputy Ministers in Tun Hussein’s administration. Abdullah Ahmad had been Tun Razak’s political secretary and was a family friend. He was also one of my strongest supporters. As if that was not enough, three days before I was to be sworn in as Prime Minister, my political secretary, Siddiq Ghouse, was arrested for alleged espionage activities. The then Home Minister Tun Ghazali Shafie said that Siddiq was a spy for the Soviet Union’s KGB.