NAME: NUR DALILA BT MD AZMI

ID NO. : D20081032136

4.0 DESCRIBE

Mahathir was born in Alor Setar, Kedah, the youngest of nine children of a schoolteacher and a
housewife. His father, Mohamad Iskandar, was of half-Indian origin, being the son of a
Malayalee Muslim (who migrated from Kerala) and a Malay mother, while Mahathir's own
mother, Wan Tampawan, was Malay.

During World War II, he sold pisang goreng (banana fritters) and other snacks to
supplement his family income during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Mahathir attended a
Malay vernacular school before continuing his education at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in
Alor Star. Mahathir then attended the King Edward VII Medical College (the predecessor of
present-day National University of Singapore) in Singapore, where he edited a medical student
magazine called The Cauldron. He also contributed to the The Straits Times newspaper
pseudonymously under the nickname "Che Det". Mahathir was also President of the Muslim
Society in the college. Upon graduation in 1953, Mahathir joined the then Malayan government
service as a medical officer.

He married Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali. Hasmah is a fellow doctor and former classmate in
college. They married on 5 August 1956, and left government service in 1957 to set up his own
private practice in Alor Star. Mahathir thrived in private practice, and allowed him to own by
1959 a Pontiac Catalina and employ an ethnic Chinese chauffeur. At the time, almost all
chauffeurs in Malaysia were Malays, owing to the economic dominance of the ethnic Chinese).
Some critics have suggested this foreshadowed a later hallmark of Mahathir's politics, which
focused on the "cultivation of such emblems of power".

From his marriage with Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah binti Haji Mohamad Ali, they have seven
children, four sons and three daughters who is Marina Mahathir, Mirzan Mahathir, Melinda
Mahathir, Mokhzani Mahathir, Mukhriz Mahathir, Maizura Mahathir and Mazhar Mahathir.
Both Mukhriz and Mokhzani are involved in business as well as in politics while their eldest
daughter Marina is a prominent local writer and AIDS activist. He successfully underwent a
heart bypass operation in 1989 at age 63.

5.0 PROFESIONAL

5.1 Politication

In the third general election of 1964, Mahathir was elected Member of Parliament for Kota Setar
Selatan defeating the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party's (PAS) candidate with a 60.2% majority. He
lost the seat in the following general election in 1969 by a mere 989 votes to PAS's candidate,
Haji Yusoff Rawa.

Following the race riots of 13 May 1969, Mahathir was sacked from the UMNO Supreme
Council on 12 July, following his widespread distribution to the public of his letter to Tunku
Abdul Rahman, the Prime Minister at that time. In his letter, he had criticised the manner in
which Tunku Abdul Rahman had handled the country's administration which was believed to
favour the ethnic Chinese. Dr. Mahathir was subsequently relieved of his party membership on
26 September.

While in the political wilderness, Mahathir wrote his book, "The Malay Dilemma" in
which he sought to explain the causes of the 13 May Incident in Kuala Lumpur and the reasons
for the Malays' lack of economic progress within their own country. He then proposed a politico-
economic solution in the form of "constructive protection", worked out after careful
consideration of the effects of heredity and environmental factors on the Malay race. The book,
published in 1970, was promptly banned by the Tunku Abdul Rahman government.

However, some of the proposals in this book had been used by Tun Abdul Razak, Tunku
Abdul Rahman's successor, in his "New Economic Policy" (NEP) that was principally geared
towards affirmative action economic programs to address the nation's economic disparity
between the Malays and the non-Malays. The ban on his book was eventually lifted after
Mahathir became Prime Minister in 1981.
 Mahathir announced his resignation from UMNO on 19 May 2008 at 12.35pm before
1,000 Kedah UMNO members in Alor Star and urged other members to follow suit as a way of
pressuring Abdullah to step down. However, he resists to join any other party and would only
rejoin UMNO after Abdullah steps down. His departure raises the possibility of large-scale
desertions by loyalists, which could split the party and bring down the government.

His son Mukhriz, the Jerlun member of Parliament, and a contender for the UMNO
youth chief post in the next party election, however stays put but nevertheless urges Abdullah to
quit immediately.

5.2 Prime Minister

Mahathir became the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 16 July 1981 when Tun Hussein Onn
stepped down due to health reasons. He was the nation's first Prime Minister that came from a
modest social background, whereas the first three prime ministers were members of the royal or
elite families.

After 22 years in office, Mahathir retired on 31 October 2003, making him one of Asia's
longest-serving political leaders. Upon his retirement on 31 October 2003, Mahathir was
awarded a "Tun"-ship, Malaysia's highest civilian honour.

In 1983 and 1991, he took on the federal and state monarchies, removing the royal veto
and royal immunity from prosecution. Prior to this amendment of the law, royal assent was
required in order for any bill to pass into law. With effect of this amendment, approval by
parliament could be legally considered as royal assent after a period of 30 days, notwithstanding
the views of the monarchs.

In 1988 when the future of the ruling party UMNO was about to be decided in the
Supreme Court (it had just been de-registered as an illegal society in the High Court), he was
believed to have engineered the dismissal of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Salleh
Abas, and three other supreme court justices who tried to block the misconduct hearings. The
series of incidents in 1988 has been widely viewed as the end of the Malaysian judiciary's
independence from the executive.

During his term in office, Mahathir turned Malaysia into a regional high-tech
manufacturing, financial, and telecommunications hub through his economic policies based on
corporate nationalism, known as the various "Malaysia Plans" which set out the government
middle-term objectives. These policies with strong Keynesian tendency remained in effect
almost to the end of his tenure in office. His pet projects have included Perwaja Steel, an attempt
to emulate South Korea and Japan, the Proton car company, and Astro, a satellite television
service.

Mahathir is credited with spearheading the phenomenal growth of the Malaysian

economy, now one of the largest in Southeast Asia. Growth between 1988 and 1997 averaged
over ten percent and living standards rose twentyfold, with poverty relatively almost eradicated
and social indicators such as literacy levels and infant mortality rates becoming almost on par
with developed countries.

During this period, Mahathir embarked on various large scale national projects, such as
the North-South Expressway, Multimedia Super Corridor, the planned capital city of Putrajaya,
Johor's Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Bakun Dam in
Sarawak, and the Petronas Towers.

While such projects have their benefits, corresponding high costs have made some
Malaysians reluctant to engage in more of such ventures, believing that the money can be better
spent on other areas of development. On the other hand, Mahathir has always argued that such
projects yield a direct return to the economy, apart from just serving the national pride, as
government spendings in turn create jobs along with other multiplier effects.

Mahathir has also been criticised for the failures and inefficiency of some of his pet
projects. Perwaja Steel eventually failed and had to be rescued by a corporate white knight. Its
chairman, Eric Chia, faced charges of corruption in 2004. Proton eventually had to be bought by
Petronas when its parent DRB-HICOM found itself over-extended, and is still currently fighting
to become profitable. Astro enjoyed a monopoly on pay television services in Malaysia until
2005 when it ended with the granting of a licence to a rival MiTV

The Bakun Dam project was to be managed by a local construction firm, Ekran Berhad. It
issued a 1-for-1 on time rights issue which was 63% undersubscribed (the first time in Malaysia
for an event of this magnitude). Ekran's chairman, Ting Pek King, had to purchase all
unsubscribed shares at a cost of $500 million ringgit due to his agreement with the underwriters.
Subsequently the dam project was taken back by the government which was obliged to pay
Ekran for the work already completed.

In 1974, Mahathir was appointed Minister of Education. He had always believed in the
need for "education for the masses", with greater emphasis on maths and science, at high school
level, in order to achieve his dream of a developed Malaysia. He continued to strongly promote
his agenda of quantity-and-quality higher education during his term as prime minister.

In those days, English, Chinese and Tamil-medium schools were fully run by private and
missionary organizations. Students from these school sat for the respective overseas
examinations set by the board of school committees and associations. For instance, Overseas
Cambridge School Certificate (OSC) was set for English schools. Under the former Prime
Minister's order, he drafted the KBSM syllabus in order to make Malay a compulsory subject to
be taught in all subjects in these schools. Overseas examinations were subsequently abolished
one after another throughout the years. Schools which converted to the national type received
heavy fundings from the government. Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Rendah Pelajaran
(SRP) were fully introduced as national examinations.

In order to cater for the lower income indigenous population, boarding schools were
promoted and constructed. Through government scholarships, tens of thousands of students were
sent yearly to universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia that Mahathir
aspired to achieve par development with. Middle and higher income groups from non-
Bumiputera Malaysians who were unable to get a place in the local universities, due to the
restrictive quota system and limited government scholarships, also independently sent their
children to these universities. This has led Malaysia to have the third largest number of students
going to western-type countries to pursue higher education, after China and India.

In 1980, education quota was introduced as part of the National Economic Policy. Mahathir who
became the acting prime minister, introduced the quota system to all economic sectors in
Malaysia including the education system, whereby a designated percentage of undergraduate
seats of higher institutions were reserved for Bumiputra citizens.

Towards his later years, Mahathir promoted the liberalization of university start-ups, leading to
branch campuses being built or the formation of permanent tie-ups with some of the most
prestigious universities in the world. Amongst others, these led to the construction of the
University of Nottingham in Malaysia (in partnership with the University of Nottingham, U.K.),
Malaysia University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.), in partnership with M.I.T. (U.S.)
and Motorola) , Monash University Malaysia (in partnership with Monash University, Australia)
and Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Campus (in partnership with Curtin University of
Technology, Australia)

Private companies with a long running history in Malaysia like Intel and AMD were also
encouraged to set up, and run partnerships and/or higher education centres and centres of
excellence.

In the year before his retirement, he announced that Mathematics and Science subjects
must be taught in English in all primary and secondary schools with aim to increase
competitiveness of Malaysian students..