Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir bin Mohamad Jawiمحاضير بن محمد born 10 July 1925 is a Malaysian politician author and physician who served as the fourth and seventh prime minister of Malaysia He held office from 1981 to 2003 and later from 2018 to 2020 for a cumulative total of 24 years making him the countrys longestserving prime minister Before becoming premier he served as deputy prime minister and in other cabinet positions He was a member of Parliament for Langkawi from 2018 to 2022 Kubang Pasu from 1974 to 2004 and Kota Star Selatan from 1964 to 1969 His political career spanned more than 75 years from joining protests opposing citizenship policies for nonMalays in the Malayan Union in the 1940s to forming the Gerakan Tanah Air coalition in 2022 Born and raised in Alor Setar Kedah Mahathir excelled at school and became a physician He became active in the United Malays National Organisation UMNO before entering the parliament of Malaysia in 1964 He served one term before losing his seat subsequently falling out with Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and being expelled from UMNO In 1970 he released the book The Malay Dilemma When Abdul Rahman resigned Mahathir reentered UMNO and parliament and was promoted to Minister of Education from 1974 to 1978 and Minister of Trade and Industry from 1978 to 1981 He became deputy prime minister in 1976 before being sworn in as prime minister in 1981 succeeding Hussein Onn During Mahathirs first tenure Malaysia underwent modernisation and economic growth and his government initiated widespread industry privatisation and a series of bold infrastructure projects Mahathir was a dominant political figure winning five consecutive general elections and fending off several rivals for UMNOs leadership He centralised power through undermining judicial independence and supporting a constitutional amendment to remove legal immunity for royalty He continued probumiputera policies and oversaw Malaysias relatively fast recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis In 1987 he detained various activists and religious figures under Operation Lalang and in 1998 had his deputy Anwar Ibrahim arrested His record of authoritarianism and curtailment of civil liberties strained relationships with the West As prime minister he was an advocate of Asian values and development models and was particularly prominent across the Muslim world Mahathir unexpectedly stepped down in 2003 but remained politically influential and was critical of his successors He quit UMNO over the 1MDB corruption scandal in 2016 joining BERSATU and leading the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition to victory in the 2018 general election During a second tenure as prime minister he pledged to investigate the 1MDB scandal combat corruption and cut spending on large infrastructure projects He also secured the pardon and release of Anwar Ibrahim Mahathir resigned in 2020 amidst a political crisis Despite losing his parliamentary seat in the 2022 general election he remained active in politics and shifted party affiliation several times Mahathirs political views have shifted during his life and are shaped by his Malay nationalism and Islamic religious beliefs