Winning support of Chinese the highlight of my career, says Dr Mahathir

Low Han Shaun Sheridan Mahavera Low Han Shaun, Sheridan Mahavera Updated 5 years ago · Published on 7 Jul 2018 2:31PM · 11 Comments

GETTING overwhelming support from the ethnic Chinese community was the most satisfying part of his long career in politics, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.   

“When I became prime minister in 1981, the fear was that I would be against the Chinese as a community,” Dr Mahathir told global news channel Al-Jazeera in an interview.  

“But when I sat down in the end, the Chinese were the people who supported me most and I retained a two-thirds majority (in the Dewan Rakyat) because of their support,” he said in a 20-minute interview with Talk to Al Jazeera.

Dr Mahathir, 92, had once been branded as a Malay ultra-nationalist during his early career as an Umno firebrand, fighting for Malay rights. His book, The Malay Dilemma, which was published in the 1970s, also appeared to boost his reputation as a racist.

Yet he managed to retain two-thirds support in the Dewan Rakyat throughout all five general elections in his first career as prime minister from 1981 to 2003.

He also managed to retain Chinese support in the 1999 general election, which came on the heels of the reformasi movement after he sacked his then-deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

“To me, that is very satisfactory, because it means that the accusation that I was against the Chinese is not true, because in the end, they were the ones who supported me, so for that I think I can be very satisfied.”

Dr Mahathir also told Al Jazeera that he did not care much for public criticism of him and his first term as prime minister from 1981 to 2003.

Civil society groups and opposition politicians at the time had criticised Mahathir for suppressing civil liberties and nurturing a culture of crony capitalism.

Some of those critics are now part of Dr Mahathir’s cabinet.

“I know there were people who ran down all the things that I did and people who appreciated what I had done.

“To me, it is irrelevant, I did what I was able to do and I was satisfied that I had given my best for my country. That is all.

“And now I am in the position to take corrective action. If I don’t, I think it will be very selfish indeed. If I am still able to, I will contribute whatever I can towards resuscitating this country.” – July 7, 2018.

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Comments

  • What a joke! You are a hypocrite and still an ultra racist. In GE14, the Chinese voted for PH, not you personally. In the past, the PAS bogeyman (and relatively strong MCA) make the choice obvious (privately many Chinese hated UMNO and you). In GE 1999, the PKR once-a-week protests and demonstrations in KL unsettled the Chinese. When you stepped down, AAB got an even bigger majority in GE 2004 (with even LKS and Karpal Singh losing their seats) which made you jealous and contribute one of the reasons for you to go on a personal vendetta to unseat him (Other reasons are you wanted to preserve the racist, corruption, crony capitalism, etc culture in UMNO when AAB wanted to do a minor cleanup).

    Posted 5 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

    • A minor proof you are still a racist. You wanted Khazanah to go back to its "original" aims. They were proven failures if Khazanah wants to be profitable and contribute dividends to the government. Investing overseas in Alibaba, Ant Financial, Uber/Grab, etc, would surely be more rewarding than in some f**ked-up cronies Bumi companies. Look at Temasek or GSIC of Singapore for guidance! I won't be surprised that under your regime we may soon have to BAILOUT Khazanah!!!

      Posted 5 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

  • Please do not rule based on racial lines anymore. Your intention to strengthen PPBM does not auger well for our future. Do not repeat the mistakes.

    Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

    • There is a war going on between PPBM and PKR to recruit Malay members ..... to be the taiko (ala UMNO) of PH.

      Posted 5 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

    • Feudal politics comes alive again under Tun.

      Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • Tun is a great statesman. Nothing in his book The Malay Dilemma is spooky or that would hurt the feelings of the Chinese. He wrote what he thought of the Malay race that were left behind in all spheres of life in the country. Anything wrong with this? Where were the Malays 60 years ago?The Malays were poor farmers, fishermen, jagas, lowly paid policemen, drivers and so forth and never into business of any kind. Not many professionals among them. He wanted the Malay race to develop and be at par with the other successful races. Tun did not rob the Chinese to give to the Malays. Tun wanted some equal share of wealth in the countries among all races.
    Nobody should not be left behind. Let's live and let live. Hidup Tun.

    Posted 5 years ago by Ken destino · Reply

    • He retarded the progress of other races to help the Malays which is wrong! The right way is to make the Malays run "faster" while NOT hindering and erecting obstacles on others. Malaysia would have been a richer country!

      Posted 5 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

    • The Malays will have really fair shares if not for the cronyism that UMNO practises. The NEP was there to help but was robbed by the crooks instead.

      Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

    • ............ PPBM also-lah ...... eg the Ramadan bazaar lots in KL ......

      Posted 5 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

  • Bersatu may continue to grow and attract the conservative Malays. PKR will attract the more liberal Malays and will align with the similarly progressive views of the DAP. It is hoped that the politics of the future will be more alongside the lines of the progressives against conservatives and less along racial and religious lines. At that point, Bersatu will part ways with PKR and may the best party win. MCA and UMNO can go to hell.

    Posted 5 years ago by Justice For All · Reply

  • What happened in 99 is because most malaysian chinese are more concerned about the economy then with changing Govt from Umno to Umno 2.0. But since then Anwar got into the act and started his sales pitch that all malaysian regardless of race are malaysia's sons and daughters. Anwar as mahathir correctly points out speak differently to different people. Anwar will say anything to get votes. While Mahathir pushes on with his Malay agenda. Mahathir will stop the Malay agenda when malays can compete evenly.

    However in pushing this agenda divided the Malaysian identity into race and religion. In the end is still the British method of divide and conquer. There is no cohesion as a nation divided is a nation at war with each other. While he complains about malaysian chinese not hiring malays or helping the malays the problem is majority of malaysian chinese are not rich. The ones going for overseas education are but they are hardly the majority of malaysian chinese who are working class and middle class.

    When you see MCA only gets 1% of malaysian chinese voters that tells you very cleary how many Taukeh or Rich Chinese are. Overwhelmingly 99% of malaysian chinese are working or middle class same as malays. Just go to the wet market and see for yourself how many 70 and 80 year olds are still working selling noobles to know they can't even afford to retire. Work till they are dead. 80 year old grandmas selling lottery tickets just to get 3 meas a day. Mahathir i'm sorry but the reality is you only know Vincent Tan and Tan kim yew but obviously is not acquainted to majority of Malaysian chinese. We are not Rich.

    Posted 5 years ago by Kok Leong Siew · Reply