download (+) www.umnology.tumblr.com Ever since he became Prime Minister of Malaysia in July 1981 at the age of 56, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has exercised an extraordinary dominating influence over his country’s public life. An economic modernizer without fear of registering a scepticism of democracy and human rights, he has bent the politics of Malaysia to his will and in the process has successfully subordinated the constitutional monarchy, the judiciary and the predominant political party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) which he has led continuously despite a major challenge in 1987 which was only narrowly defeated. His sustained political dominance was demonstrated in the way in which he removed his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, from national and party office in 1998. Indeed, in so doing, he effectively rewrote the rules of Malaysian politics. Dr. Mahathir is exceptional as a Malay leader in contrast to his three predecessors as Prime Minister. He is not only authoritarian but also highly combative and confrontational and adept at open invective. Such behaviour is out of keeping with Malay cultural style and indeed with the notion of “Asian values” which Dr. Mahathir has espoused. It may be that his medical training as well as his personality has been a factor in shaping a political style that brooks no opposition to his diagnoses and prescriptions. His sense of rectitude in telling Malaysians that they should swallow the equivalent of so many pills a day in their own interest conjures up the image of medical infallibility translated to politics.

2. Malaysian politics under
Mahathir
Economic success and authoritarian government have been the hallmarks of
Mahathir Mohamad’s administration. Since Mahathir became prime minister in
1981, the Malaysian economy has grown dramatically and Mahathir has remained
firmly in control of the political scene throughout.
Malaysian politics have been decisively shaped by Mahathir and this book
provides a balanced and detailed account of his character, ideas, and temperament.
The social and political scene in Malaysia is examined, as are the Prime Minister’s
successes such as the careful management of ethnic tensions between Malays and
Chinese, the program of modernization and industrialization, and his emergence
as a champion of Third World causes. Mahathir’s faults are also honestly
examined, including his preference for grandiose projects and his failure to check
corruption. The abrupt dismissal from office, arrest and trial of Anwar Ibrahim,
Mahathir’s deputy, in late 1998, and their implications, are assessed.
The recent economic crisis in Asia has had a major impact on certain Southeast
Asian states including Malaysia. Malaysian Politics under Mahathir considers these
recent developments and their implications for Malaysia’s, and Mahathir’s, future.
R.S.Milne is Emeritus Professor and has held professorships at the University of
British Columbia, Singapore University, London University and Victoria
University, New Zealand. Diane K.Mauzy is Professor of Political Science at the
University of British Columbia. Both have published widely on Malaysia and
Southeast Asia.

3. Politics in Asia series
Edited by Michael Leifer
London School of Economics
ASEAN and the Security of South-East
Asia
Michael Leifer
Political Change in Southeast Asia
Trimming the Banyan Tree
Michael R.J.Vatikiotis
China’s Policy Towards Territorial
Disputes
Chi-kin Lo
Hong Kong
China’s Challenge
Michael Yahuda
India and Southeast Asia
Indian Perceptions and Policies
Mohammed Ayoob
Korea versus Korea
A Case of Contested Legitimacy
B.K.Gills
Gorbachev and Southeast Asia
Leszek Buszynski
Indonesian Politics under Suharto
Order, Development and Pressure for Change
Michael R.J.Vatikiotis
The State and Ethnic Politics in Southeast
Asia
David Brown
The Politics of Nation Building and
Citizenship in Singapore
Michael Hill and Lian Kwen Fee
Politics in Indonesia
Democracy, Islam and the Ideology of
Tolerance
Douglas E.Ramage
Communitarian Ideology and Democracy
in Singapore
Beng-Huat Chua
The Challenge of Democracy in Nepal
Louise Brown
Religious Identity in Foreign Policy
Islam, Malaysian Foreign Policy and the
Mahathir Administration
Shanti Nair
Taiwan and Chinese Nationalism
National Identity and Status in International
Society
Christopher Hughes
Managing Political Change in Singapore
The Elected Presidency
Kevin Y.L.Tan and Lam Peng Er
Islam in Malaysian Foreign Policy
Shanti Nair
Political Change in Thailand
Democracy and Participation
Kevin Hewison
The Politics of NGOs in South-East Asia
Participation and protest in the Philippines
Gerard Clarke
Malaysian Politics Under Mahathir
R.S.Milne and Diane K.Mauzy
Japan’s Asia Policy
Wolf Mendl
Indonesia and China
The Politics of a Troubled Relationship
Rizal Sukma
The International Politics of Asia-Pacific
1945–1995
Michael Yahuda
Arming the two Koreas
State, Capital and Military Power
Taik-Young Hamm

4. Malaysian Politics
under Mahathir
R.S.Milne and Diane K.Mauzy
London and New York

5. To Portia and Alexa, whose quantum leaps have
helped us to extend the bounds of knowledge

6. Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
List of acronyms
Malaysian proper names and titles
Key dates
Map 1 Southeast Asia
Map 2 Malaysia
ix
xi
xii
xv
xvi
xviii
xix
Introduction: leadership in Malaysia
1
1 Malaysia: how Mahathir came to power
8
2
Mahathir’s assertion of executive power
29
3
The economy and development
50
4 Containing ethnic discontent
80
5 Human rights
103
6 Foreign policy
122
7
The succession to Mahathir: Anwar Ibrahim
144
8
Mahathir as Prime Minister
159
Postscript
187
Notes
Further reading
Index
189
210
217

7. Foreword
Ever since he became Prime Minister of Malaysia in July 1981 at the age of 56,
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has exercised an extraordinary dominating influence
over his country’s public life. An economic modernizer without fear of registering
a scepticism of democracy and human rights, he has bent the politics of Malaysia
to his will and in the process has successfully subordinated the constitutional
monarchy, the judiciary and the predominant political party, the United Malays
National Organization (UMNO) which he has led continuously despite a major
challenge in 1987 which was only narrowly defeated. His sustained political
dominance was demonstrated in the way in which he removed his deputy, Anwar
Ibrahim, from national and party office in 1998. Indeed, in so doing, he effectively
rewrote the rules of Malaysian politics.
Dr. Mahathir is exceptional as a Malay leader in contrast to his three
predecessors as Prime Minister. He is not only authoritarian but also highly
combative and confrontational and adept at open invective. Such behaviour is
out of keeping with Malay cultural style and indeed with the notion of “Asian
values” which Dr. Mahathir has espoused. It may be that his medical training as
well as his personality has been a factor in shaping a political style that brooks no
opposition to his diagnoses and prescriptions. His sense of rectitude in telling
Malaysians that they should swallow the equivalent of so many pills a day in
their own interest conjures up the image of medical infallibility translated to
politics.
In locating Dr. Mahathir at the centre of their impressive study of Malaysia’s
politics, Professors Stephen Milne and Diane Mauzy have acknowledged a fact
of life which will not go away. They bring to this study considerable first-hand
experience of Malaysia’s politics and its personalities and the text is informed by
a deep understanding of its complexities. The role and political conduct of Dr.
Mahathir is treated in a sober and balanced manner with credit given where it is
due, while his early chequered political career is taken into full account. His
accomplishments in economic modernization and his tolerant management of
ethnic and religious matters as well as achievements in foreign policy are accorded
full acknowledgement. Matching sober treatment is provided of his idiosyncracies
and love of power. Indeed, it is pointed out that for him “power is a necessary
food”. In this context, the authors discuss political succession and his chequered

8. x Foreword
relationship with his one-time political heir presumptive, Anwar Ibrahim. In
addition, the shortcomings of governance in Malaysia under his rule are also
addressed, including the rise in the incidence of corruption. Correspondingly,
the reader is provided with an insight into his fixations, including a so-called
edifice complex and characteristic angry xenophobic response to the onset of
economic crisis from the second half of 1997. One depiction of Dr. Mahathir in
this volume is as “innovative, eccentric and iconoclastic”. The fact of the matter
is that Malaysia’s politics have never been the same since he assumed office and
power nearly two decades ago. Professors Milne and Mauzy have captured the
essence of the man and of the political context which he has shaped and
conditioned in a scholarly and highly readable way. As such, they provide a
unique insight into a distinctive political era in Malaysia.
Michael Leifer
September 1998

9. Acknowledgments
We have too many intellectual debts, to politicians, academics, diplomats,
journalists, and other friends, incurred over more than thirty-five years of research
in Malaya/Malaysia, to attempt to acknowledge them here. Many will be apparent
from the references. However, some academics with whom we have had discussions
since this book was underway merit our special thanks: Harold Crouch; Jomo,
K.S.; Johan Saravanamuttu; Zakaria Haji Ahmad; and also, in Canada, Richard
Stubbs and Frank Langdon. Also, we would like to thank M.G.G.Pillai for
organizing, and listing us on, the <sangkancil@malaysia.net> Internet list, which
has been very helpful and informative.
Libraries which were particularly helpful were: the library of The New Straits
Times in Kuala Lumpur; the libraries of the Australian National University of
Canberra; and the library of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore,
especially the Librarian, Ch’ng Kim See.
We are also grateful to Nancy Mina of the Department of Political Science,
University of British Columbia, for typing the manuscript on the computer, and
for her diligence and patience in deciphering a myriad of inked-in alterations.
The Consulate of Malaysia in Vancouver, Canada kindly permitted us to
consult its holdings of Malaysian newspapers.
Diane K.Mauzy would also like to thank the University of British Columbia
for an HSS Small Grant that has helped to defray some of the research costs.
Concerning publication, we are especially grateful to Michael Leifer and
Victoria Smith, not only for their guidance and understanding, but for having
divined, in the first place, that we were willing and ready to write our book on
Mahathir. Kate Hopgood, the Desk Editor, was delightful, and refreshingly nonbureaucratic, to work with.
Some of the material used in the book has been adapted from R.S.Milne,
“The Mellowing of Mahathir?”, in Bruce Matthews (ed.), Le recueil, intitulé identities,
territoire et environnement en Asie du Sud-Est/Identities, Territory and Environment in Southeast
Asia, Québec City, Documents Du GÉRAC #13, Université, Laval, forthcoming
in 1999.

10. Acronyms
2MP
ABIM
ACA
AFTA
AMM
APEC
ARF
ASA
ASEAN
ASEM
BMF
CHOGM
DAC
DAP
EAEC
EAEG
EPF
EPU
EU
FELDA
FLDA
FIMA
FUNCINPEC
GATT
HAKAM
HICOM
ICA
IKIM
ILO
IMF
IMP
Second Malaysia Plan
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia—Malaysian Islamic Youth
Movement
Anti-Corruption Agency
ASEAN Free Trade Area
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
ASEAN Regional Forum
Association of Southeast Asia
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Asia-Europe Meeting
Bumiputra Malaysia Finance
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
Declaration of ASEAN Concord
Democratic Action Party
East Asia Economic Caucus
East Asia Economic Group
Employees Provident Fund
Economic Planning Unit
European Union
Federal Land Development Authority
see FELDA
Food Industries of Malaysia
Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Indépendant
Neutre, Pacifique et Coopératif
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
National Human Rights Society
Heavy Industry Corporation of Malaysia
Industrial Coordination Act 1975
Institute of Islamic Understanding
International Labor Organization
International Monetary Fund
Independence of Malaya Party

11. Acronyms
INA
IRG
ISA
ISIS
JUST
MAF
MARA
MCA
MCP
MIC
MPAJA
MPHB
MSC
MTUC
NAFTA
NAM
NCC
NDP
NEAC
NECC
NEP
NGO
NIE
NOG
OIC
OPP2
PAC
PAP
PAS
PBDS
PBS
Perkim
PMC
PPP
RIDA
SNAP
SUPP
TAC
UDA
UEM
UMNO
UN
UNESCO
xiii
Indian National Army
Islamic Republic Group
Internal Security Act
Institute of Strategic and International Studies
Just World Trust
Malaysian Armed Forces
Majlis Amanah Rakyat
Malayan/Malaysian Chinese Association
Malayan Communist Party
Malayan/Malaysian Indian Congress
Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army
Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad
Multimedia Super Corridor
Malaysian Trade Union Congress
New Zealand and Australia Free Trade Agreement
Non-Aligned Movement
National Consultative Council
National Development Policy
National Economic Action Council
National Economic Consultative Council
New Economic Policy
Non-governmental organization
Newly industrializing economy
National Operations Council
Organization of Islamic Conference
Second Outline Perspective Plan
Political action committee
People’s Action Party
Partai Islam Se-Malaysia
Parti Bangsa Dayak Sarawak—Party of the Dayak Peoples
of Sarawak
Parti Bersatu Sabah (United Sabah Party)
Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam
Post-Ministerial Conference
People’s Progressive Party
Rural and Industrial Development Authority
Sarawak National Party
Sarawak United People’s Party
Treaty of Amity and Cooperation
Urban Development Authority
United Engineers (Malaysia)
United Malays National Organization
United Nations
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization

12. xiv
Acronyms
UNTAC
WTO
ZOPFAN
United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
World Trade Organization
Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality

13. Malaysian proper names and titles
Malays are not referred to principally by their patronymics. Rather, they are
referred to by their given name(s), and their fathers’ names are attached at the
end after “bin” (for males) or “binte” (for females). Some Malays drop the use of
“bin/binte, e.g., the third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn, son of Dato Onn
bin Jaafar. When there are two given names and the first is “Abdul,” either the
person is referred to by both given names (e.g., Abdul Rahman), or the “Abdul”
is dropped (e.g., the second Prime Minister, Tun Razak—otherwise known as
Tun Abdul Razak bin Dato Hussein). Similarly, if the first of two given names is
“Mohamed” (or one of its variations), it is sometimes dropped.
Malaysia’s Chinese generally have three names, and the usage is simple and
consistent. The family name comes first and is followed by two given names. For
example, in the name “Lim Kit Siang,” “Lim” is the family name; friends would
call him “Kit Siang”. The only exception for Chinese names occurs when a
person uses a Christian first name, then the family name appears last, as for the
Chinese politician, Michael Chen, who would otherwise by known as Chen
Wing Sum.
Some descendants of royalty have the title of “Tunku” or “Tengku” (Prince)
which is spelled differently in different states. The word “Haji” or the feminine
“Hajiah” in a name indicates that the person has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Non-hereditary titles may be conferred by a ruler or governor at the state
level, or by the Agung at the federal level. In most cases the nomination would
come from the appropriate minister. The most usual state title is “Dato” or “Datuk,”
the latter is now becoming the more frequent spelling. Longer forms are “Datuk
Seri” or “Datuk Amar.” The feminine form is “Datin,” although a woman who
acquires the title in her own right, and not by marriage, is a “Datuk.” At federal
level the corresponding title is “Tan Sri.” A higher federal rank, rarely conferred,
is “Tun.” Men without a title are referred to as “Encik” (Mr.). The feminine
equivalent is “Che.”

14. Key dates
Background
The first British territory acquired on the Malayan peninsula was the island of
Penang, leased to the British East India Company by the Sultan of Kedah in
1786. Early in the Twentieth Century, the British government controlled all Malaya.
It exercised the greatest control in the three “Straits Settlements,” Penang, Malacca
and Singapore. In four “federated states” its rule was less direct, and in five
“unfederated states” it was even less direct.
Some important dates concerning Malaysia, and Mahathir, in the last halfcentury or so, are given below:
1925
1942–5
1946
1946
1946–8
1948
1948–60
1948
1949
1951
1953
1953
1955
1957
1957
1963
1963
1964
1965
Mahathir Mohamad born in Alor Setar, Kedah. His father, halfIndian, half-Malay, was a school principal. His mother was Malay
Japanese invasion and occupation of Malaya
United Malays National Organization (UMNO) formed
Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) formed
Malayan Union formed then abrogated
Federation of Malaya Agreement on Malaya’s constitutional future
Communist rebellion (the “Emergency”)
Partai Islam, later Partai Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), founded
Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) formed
Independence of Malaya Party formed
The Alliance Party formed
Mahathir awarded a medical degree by the University of Malaya,
Singapore
General election decisively won by the Alliance
Malaya becomes independent, with a new Constitution. Tunku
Abdul Rahman becomes the first Prime Minister
Mahathir starts a new medical practice in Alor Setar
Malaysia formed
“Confrontation” by Indonesia against Malaysia
Mahathir elected to Parliament
Singapore separated from Malaysia