MAHATHIR MOHAMAD

Mahathir bin Mohamad (Jawi: ‫ر;محمد بن محضير‬IPA:‫[ر‬maˈhaðɪr bɪn‫ر‬moˈhamad];‫ر‬born‫ر‬10‫ر‬July‫ر‬1925),‫ر‬

known as Dr. M,[1] is a Malaysian physician, politician, and author who is the current Prime Minister
of Malaysia. He previously served as Prime Minister from 1981 until his retirement in 2003, by which
time he was the world's longest-serving elected leader. He is the chairman of the Pakatan Harapan
coalition, as well as a member of the Parliament of Malaysia for the Langkawi constituency in the
state of Kedah. Mahathir's political career has spanned more than 70 years since he first joined a
newly formed United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1946; he formed his own party,
Malaysian United Indigenous Party (PPBM), in 2016.

Born and raised in Alor Setar, Kedah, Mahathir excelled at school and became a medical doctor. He
became active in the UMNO before entering Parliament in 1964. He served one term before losing
his seat, subsequently falling out with Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and being expelled from
UMNO. When Abdul Rahman resigned, Mahathir re-entered UMNO and Parliament, and was
promoted to the Cabinet. By 1977, he had risen to Deputy Prime Minister, and in 1981 was sworn in
as Prime Minister after the resignation of his predecessor, Hussein Onn.

During Mahathir's first tenure as prime minister, Malaysia experienced a period of rapid
modernization and economic growth, and his government initiated a series of bold infrastructure
projects. Mahathir was a dominant political figure, winning five consecutive general elections and
fending off a series of rivals for the leadership of UMNO. However, his accumulation of power came
at the expense of the independence of the judiciary and the traditional powers and privileges of
Malaysia's royalty. He deployed the controversial Internal Security Act to detain activists, non-
mainstream religious figures, and political opponents including the Deputy Prime Minister he fired in
1998, Anwar Ibrahim. Mahathir's record of curbing civil liberties and his antagonism towards
western interests and economic policy made his relationships with the United States, United
Kingdom and Australia, among others, difficult. As Prime Minister, he was an advocate of third-world
development and a prominent international activist.

After leaving office, Mahathir became a strident critic of his hand-picked successor Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi in 2006 and later, Najib Razak in 2015. On 29 February 2016, Mahathir quit UMNO in light of
its support for the actions of Prime Minister Najib Razak, in spite of the 1Malaysia Development
Berhad scandal. On 9 September 2016, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party was officially
registered as a political party, with Mahathir as chairman. On 8 January 2018, Mahathir was
announced as the Pakatan Harapan coalition candidate for prime minister for the 2018 general
election, in a plan to pardon Anwar Ibrahim and hand a role to him if the campaign was successful.
Following a decisive victory for Pakatan Harapan in the 2018 election, Mahathir was sworn in as
prime minister on 10 May 2018. At 93, he is the oldest sitting state leader. He is the first prime
minister not to represent the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition (or its predecessor, the Alliance Party)
and also the first to serve from two different parties and on non-consecutive terms.