How Dr Mahathir’s legacy continues to imperil Malaysia’s future

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: Brilliant, multi-talented, inquisitive were some of the adjectives a former Malaysian diplomat uses to describe Dr Mahathir Mohamad. But he also played racist games, writes Dennis Ignatius.

In the preface to his book Paradise Lost: Mahathir and the End of Hope, Ignatius said he spent much time with the then prime minister in the course of his long career in the foreign service.

“I met many world leaders and I can honestly say that Mahathir often stood head and shoulders above them all. As a foreign service officer, one could not ask for more in a leader.”

But Mahathir was a man of many sides, Ignatius said. The side that dismayed him the most was Mahathir’s race-based vision for Malaysia.

However, the turning point for Ignatius came with Mahathir’s “unacceptable” treatment of his then deputy Anwar Ibrahim.


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