{"id":288943,"date":"2025-04-24T04:51:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T04:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/at-99-a-seminal-asian-leader-reflects-on-a-contentious-legacy\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T04:51:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T04:51:06","slug":"at-99-a-seminal-asian-leader-reflects-on-a-contentious-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/at-99-a-seminal-asian-leader-reflects-on-a-contentious-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"At 99, a Seminal Asian Leader Reflects on a Contentious Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/15\/multimedia\/00Malaysia-Mahathir-Legacy-Interview-01-ltmj\/00Malaysia-Mahathir-Legacy-Interview-01-ltmj-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"At 99, a Seminal Asian Leader Reflects on a Contentious Legacy\" title=\"At 99, a Seminal Asian Leader Reflects on a Contentious Legacy\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur on a recent Friday, a crowd of men angled for an close-up look at the silver-haired figure in a gray suit exiting an elevator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They held their camera phones up high and perched on stairs to catch a better glimpse. Those who could get close enough stepped forward to kiss the man\u2019s hand. A worshiper put his hand to his head in a salute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The man commanding all this attention was Mahathir Mohamad, 99, who served more years as prime minister than anyone in Malaysia\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Starting in 1981, he governed uninterrupted for 22 years, engineering an economic transformation that reshaped the country from one dependent on tin, rubber and palm oil into one of the world\u2019s major high-tech exporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then in 2018, after a 15-year break, he was elected again at 92, setting a record as the world\u2019s oldest prime minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he remains a deeply polarizing figure, reviled by many for clamping down hard on his political opponents \u2014 most notoriously, Anwar Ibrahim, the current prime minister \u2014 and for his incendiary comments about Jews and race in Malaysia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Western governments, including the United States, condemned what happened to Mr. Anwar when his mentor led the country. Mr. Mahathir fired Mr. Anwar as deputy prime minister in 1998, and his No. 2 was imprisoned for years on corruption and sodomy charges, severely beaten and widely considered a political prisoner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And for all the praise he won for Malaysia\u2019s economic transformation, Mr. Mahathir was also subject to much less-flattering assessments. He has been called Machiavellian, a dictator, an autocrat and an antisemite.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As he approaches his 100th birthday in July, Mr. Mahathir assessed his own legacy in a wide-ranging, hourlong interview in mid-February in his office in Putrajaya, the administrative capital that he built about an hour\u2019s drive from downtown Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When asked about the dictator label, Mr. Mahathir looked amused.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDo strongmen ever resign?\u201d he responded. \u201cIf you can find a dictator who resigns, then you can call me a dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">(Political historians might counter that there are examples, including Augusto Pinochet in Chile.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And what about the charges that he is antisemitic?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In past statements, he has called Jews \u201chook nosed,\u201d said they \u201crule the world by proxy\u201d and blamed them for the Asian financial crisis in 1997 \u2014 singling out George Soros, the financier, who, Mr. Mahathir pointed out, is Jewish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the interview, Mr. Mahathir said he had \u201cno problem\u201d with Jews and pitied them for the vast suffering of the Holocaust. But he said he became appalled when the formation of Israel resulted in the expulsion and killing of Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhen I criticize the Jews for doing wrong things, bad things and oppressive things, they label me as an anti-Jew,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m pointing out that what they were doing is wrong; that is all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some analysts have characterized such offensive tirades, like blaming Jews collectively for what he sees as the failings of Israeli state policy, as a way for him to pander to a domestic audience that has long supported the Palestinian cause. Others suggested they were a way for Mr. Mahathir, who has long called for Islam to coexist with the modern world, to bolster his own religious bona fides. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During his first tenure as prime minister, Mr. Mahathir made race the center of his and Malaysia\u2019s politics. He championed the idea of Malay supremacy and gave lucrative business opportunities to select Malay businessmen, which critics called cronyism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, he often hectored his fellow Malays, calling them lazy. During the interview, he made the same sort of sweeping statements that had been a characteristic of his time in office: \u201cThe Malays don\u2019t work as hard as the other races,\u201d he said, while noting that \u201cthe Chinese are very hard working, and they are very materialistic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Whatever his final legacy, Mr. Mahathir is determined to add to it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Five years after stepping down in 2020 from his second stint as prime minister, he still wields influence and dominates headlines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One obsession keeps him going.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBefore I die, for as much as I can function,\u201d Mr. Mahathir said, \u201cI would like to continue my work in trying to contribute to the growth of Malaysia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In front of him on his desk was a letter asking him to intervene in Malaysia\u2019s current economic problems. Next to it was a clipboard with his latest essay in longhand for his blog. (It started: \u201cPoor Ukraine.\u201d) Beyond his right shoulder was the Formula One helmet that he received as a gift in September when he drove around a racetrack, clocking 96 miles an hour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Every weekday, he is in the office by 8:30 a.m. and works for about nine hours, sometimes 12.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWorking is the best therapy for not being ill, that\u2019s what he tells me,\u201d said his wife, Dr. Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, 98, to whom he has been married for close to seven decades. \u201cHe says: \u2018If I rest at home, I\u2019ll be wasting my time.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Hasmah, who devoted her medical career to maternal and child health, described a husband who treated her as an equal. He sent her to lead diplomatic delegations when she was first lady, like a trip to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iraq\" title=\"Iraq\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Iraq<\/a> to assess the effect of the United Nations\u2019 economic sanctions on women and children. It resulted in a secret meeting with Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere were so many times he believed in me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Mahathir thinks a lot about aging and what it means for leadership. Old people should still contribute to politics, he said \u2014 but not all old people. Last year, he said that Joseph R. Biden Jr., whom he had initially backed for the U.S. presidency, should step down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAlthough he is younger than me, he looked and behaved like an old person,\u201d Mr. Mahathir said during the interview.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among his greatest regrets, Mr. Mahathir said, was his decision in 2003 to retire at 78 because he felt he would be too old to contest the next election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During that first pause, he was never able to stay on the sidelines. He criticized two of his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s for what he said were economic mismanagement and personal failings. But it was a quest to defeat one of them, Najib Razak, then prime minister, that gave rise to Mr. Mahathir\u2019s remarkable second act in politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sometime in 2014, Malaysians started visiting Mr. Mahathir\u2019s office to vent about Mr. Najib\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/14\/world\/asia\/malaysia-najib-rosmah-1mdb.html\" title=\"\">mismanaging of a state investment fund<\/a>, 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, according to Endie Shazlie Akbar, Mr. Mahathir\u2019s former press secretary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was almost like people were going to Jimmy Carter to complain about Donald Trump,\u201d Mr. Endie said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Mahathir called on Mr. Najib to resign, attended nationwide demonstrations and decided, finally, that he not only had to come out of retirement, but also that he would team up with his longtime nemesis: Mr. Anwar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Together, the odd couple won the election, and Mr. Mahathir was once again prime minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the bonhomie lasted only two years, after which Mr. Mahathir\u2019s political party defected from the winning coalition and he resigned as premier for the second time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His feud with Mr. Anwar continues to reverberate today. The Malaysian government is considering <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/malaysia-inquiry-proposes-criminal-probe-against-ex-pm-mahathir-state-media-2024-12-05\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a criminal investigation<\/a> into Mr. Mahathir over a territorial settlement with Singapore, in which he withdrew Malaysia\u2019s attempt to challenge a previous ruling on three islets. It has also asked Mr. Mahathir\u2019s sons to disclose the sources of their wealth. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Mahathir said he had tried to reach out to Mr. Anwar but he \u201cwants nothing to do with me.\u201d He added: \u201cHe treats me like the opposition, the enemy almost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of Mr. Mahathir\u2019s actions suggest he isn\u2019t all that eager to make amends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a recent Friday, Mr. Mahathir met a group called the Malay Proclamation, which is made up of Malays concerned about the future of their race but considered by some analysts to be an anti-Anwar coalition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Voters had a chance to render their own verdict on his legacy: In 2022, Mr. Mahathir lost his seat in Parliament after gaining a mere 7 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">James Chin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania, said Mr. Mahathir\u2019s latest coalition had been made up of extreme right-wing Malay parties that turned off many Malaysians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMahathir will be remembered more for not bowing out gracefully,\u201d said Ong Kian Ming, who was the deputy trade minister under Mr. Mahathir in his second stint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Abdul Kadir Jasin, Mr. Mahathir\u2019s former adviser, said he had long dreamed for his ex-boss to assume a Nelson Mandela-type role in retirement: a revered statesman who would share his wisdom with the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOf course, it will not be fulfilled,\u201d Mr. Kadir said of his wish. \u201cHe\u2019s always said he doesn\u2019t care how he\u2019s remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat\u2019s Mahathir for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/24\/world\/asia\/malaysia-mahathir-mohamad-interview.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur on a recent Friday, a crowd of men angled for an close-up look at the silver-haired figure in a gray suit exiting an elevator. They held their camera phones up high and perched on stairs to catch a better glimpse. Those who could get close enough stepped forward [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/15\/multimedia\/00Malaysia-Mahathir-Legacy-Interview-01-ltmj\/00Malaysia-Mahathir-Legacy-Interview-01-ltmj-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[224801,93301,6030,167608,165576,41734,164813,164392,9656,3096,1891,2013,3919,3904,3920,224802,137131,5068,224803],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288945,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288943\/revisions\/288945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}