Mahathir's Shattered Legacy

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By: Murray Hunter

After nearly 75 years in public life, the political career of Mahathir Mohamed appears to be drawing to a close at age 96. As he becomes less relevant despite his recent launch of a thinly disguised bid to return to power via a National Recovery Council amid the country’s current fevered political maneuvering, it is time to look at what the last four years, with 20 months as prime minister once again, did for his legacy.

(See related story: Mahathir Seeks Another Path Back to Malaysian Power)

Most acknowledged Mahathir had made mistakes, particularly in allowing endemic corruption and cronyism in an attempt to create a Malay entrepreneurial class, and in the sacking and imprisonment, in what many regarded as a legal farce, of his protégé, Anwar Ibrahim. But most were willing to gloss over his shortcomings, as it was believed his time had passed. Seemingly in his dotage, Mahathir enjoyed almost universal acclaim at public events.

He has always been a controversial figure. His style has always been to crash through, or crash, both outcomes occurring during his career. No other person has influenced the direction and shape of Malaysia, for good or ill. In the mid to late 1990s, there was a prevailing feeling that Malaysia, an Asian Tiger, had found its place in the world. The Penang bridge, North-South Highway, a new airport, a Formula One racetrack, and a new administrative capital, Putra Jaya was constructed. Malaysia had a proclaimed flawed national car, Proton. The KLCC twin towers, then the highest buildings in the world, became the icon of the success story.

Many had expected him in political retirement after his first 22 years in power to move onto the international stage and use his support from non-aligned countries to either run for the Commonwealth or United Nations Secretary-General positions. However, first, he became fixated on what he regarded as the poor performance of his hand-picked successor Badawi, sniping both publicly and behind the scenes to play a major role in Badawi’s political demise.


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