Assignment and Presentation 2

 Principle of Management-01 BMGT2113B/RMGT2113-01

 Prepared by Haziq b. Hamzah (B21301121)

 REPORT: THE SUCCESS STORY OF MALAYSIA UNDER TUN DR. MAHATHIR

MOHAMAD
Table of Contents

NO Chapter/ Section Page

1 Introduction 1
2 Leader’s Journey 2-3
3 Leadership style 4-8
4 Task focused or people focused 9-13
5 Describe why you had chosen that leader 14-16
6 Conclusion 17-19
7 Reference 20

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Introduction
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (later will be referred to as Tun Dr Mahathir) came to power
again as the Prime Minister of Malaysia in May 2018. At the age of 92, he is easily the
oldest Head of Government in the world. He is even older than the Queen by one year. Tun
Dr Mahathir was first appointed as the Prime Minister of Malaysia in 1981. After more
than 22 years in power, Tun Dr Mahathir resigned from the office of Prime Minister of
Malaysia and handed it over to his deputy, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in October, 2003.
Later, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak replaced Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
as the Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2008. The focus of this topic is to examine the
leadership patterns of Tun Dr Mahathir and how his leadership patterns or characteristics
have influenced Malaysian national developments and its foreign policies. Different
leaders have different styles and approaches to managing a country. For example, the second
Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Abdul Razak would run Malaysia differently from his
former boss, Tunku Abdul Rahman even both leaders were from the same party, the
United Malay National Organization (UMNO). They have different leadership patterns,
characteristics and personality. Generally, leadership patterns of the leaders refer the
behavior patterns of these leaders on how they construct their own vision, mission and ideas
for the country or organizations to attract the people to be their followers, either in a
political party or organization. The pattern of leadership can be seen through the various
behaviors of the leaders, a skill or ability to attract people or followers to them. Honest
and good leaders are always required for national development. Such leaders are key
players in nation building as they always play important roles to ensure the
development projects are implemented, the country’s socioeconomic sectors and
government machinery are well managed to ensure the country achieve its economic
growth and prosperity. Against such background, Malaysia would become a developed
nation by the year 2020. Past research findings show that a country‟s leadership has a
strong influence on the country‟s socioeconomic progress and development. Leadership is
a very complex matter and can be viewed from different angles and perspectives. In
other words, leadership can also be seen through the person‟s behavior or the leader
himself, like Tun Dr Mahathir, who came to power as the Prime Minister of Malaysia at the
age of 92, in May 2018. As mentioned above, the behaviors of a person, his wisdom, his
intellectual powers, his skills and his ways of doing things can impress the people at large,
which in turn will influence them to trust and follow his instructions. Tun Dr Mahathir is a
classic example of such leaders. Like many leaders in the past, Tun Dr Mahathir too has his
own leadership patterns and styles, which may vary from time to time and according to
the situations or environments. Many would agree to say that Tun Dr Mahathir is a unique
person, an effective leader, a great administrator as well as a competent person in
international relations. To many world leaders, Tun Dr Mahathir is a brave and outspoken
leader from the ASEAN Region. When he came to power in May 2018, Tun Dr
Mahathir is also the oldest Head of State in the world.

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Leader’s Journey

Mahathir bin Mohamad, in full Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mohamad, Mohamad also spelled
Mohamed or Muhammed, (born July 10, 1925, Alor Setar, Kedah [Malaysia]), Malaysian
politician who served as prime minister of Malaysia (1981–2003; 2018–20), overseeing the
country’s transition to an industrialized nation.
Mahathir, the son of a schoolmaster, was born on July 10, 1925, although official records
give his birth date as December 20. He was educated at Sultan Abdul Hamid College and the
University of Malaya in Singapore, where he studied medicine. After graduating in 1953, he
worked as a government medical officer until 1957 and then entered private practice. He was
first elected to parliament in 1964 as a member of the United Malays National Organization
(UMNO), the dominant party within the ruling governmental coalition. In 1969, however,
Mahathir was expelled from UMNO after his forceful advocacy of ethnic Malay nationalism
brought him into conflict with Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. (Though politically
dominant, Malaysia’s ethnic Malay majority was much poorer than the ethnic Chinese
minority, which dominated the economy.) The New Economic Policy that the government
adopted in 1971 to improve the economic situation of Malays embodied many of the ideas
Mahathir had advocated.
Mahathir rejoined UMNO in 1970, was reelected to its Supreme Council in 1972 and to
parliament in 1974, and later in 1974 was appointed minister of education. In 1976 he
became deputy prime minister and in June 1981 was elected president of UMNO. He became
prime minister in July of that year, the first commoner to hold that office.

Mahathir’s long prime ministry gave Malaysia the political stability needed for economic
growth. He welcomed foreign investment, reformed the tax structure, reduced trade tariffs,
and privatized numerous state-owned enterprises. Mahathir sought to bridge Malaysia’s
ethnic divisions by increasing general prosperity. The New Economic Policy, which had
encouraged Malay economic success, was replaced in 1991 by the New Development Policy,
which emphasized general economic growth and the elimination of poverty. Under
Mahathir’s leadership, Malaysia prospered economically, with a growing manufacturing
sector, an expanding middle class, rising literacy rates, and increased life expectancies.
In the late 1990s, however, Malaysia’s economy entered a depression, causing a split between
Mahathir and his apparent successor, minister of finance and deputy prime minister Anwar
Ibrahim. Anwar’s support of open markets and international investments was in opposition to
Mahathir’s growing distrust of the West. In 1998 Anwar was dismissed from his posts and
arrested, and a wave of anti-government demonstrations swept the country. Anwar’s
conviction and prison sentence sparked more protests under the reformasi (“reform”) banner,
which called for Mahathir’s resignation. Nevertheless, Mahathir continued to suppress
Anwar’s supporters and consolidate his own power.
Following the September 11 attacks of 2001 in the United States, Mahathir offered his
support in the global war against terrorism, but he opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in
2003. Mahathir, always a controversial figure, often criticized the West, and he raised the ire

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of many foreign governments and many non-Muslims in particular by attacking Jews in a
major speech delivered just days before his retirement as prime minister on October 31, 2003.
In 2008, after UMNO and its partners lost their two-thirds legislative majority for the first
time in several decades, Mahathir withdrew from the party.
Although he largely retired from public life in 2008, Mahathir emerged as a fierce critic of
Prime Minister Najib Razak, a former protégé who had become embroiled in a massive
financial scandal involving Malaysia’s state-run development fund 1MDB. Najib Razak was
accused of embezzling $700 million from 1MDB, and he and other Malaysian officials
became the targets of several international money-laundering investigations. Mahathir
announced in January 2018 that he would stand as a candidate for prime minister for a
coalition of opposition parties in the general election, and in a stunning upset, on May 9,
2018, the 92-year-old Mahathir won a narrow majority, with his coalition claiming 122 of the
222 seats. He was sworn in as prime minister the following day. During the election
campaign, Mahathir had pledged that he would step down after serving two years and cede
power to Anwar, and one of his first acts in office was to petition Sultan Muhammad V to
pardon Anwar. Anwar was released days later and soon resumed his political career.
The alliance between Mahathir and Anwar was shaky at best, and the exact terms of the
promised succession were never spelled out. Mahathir resolved the matter by announcing his
resignation as prime minister in February 2020, barely two months ahead of the promised
handover. With the deal with Anwar scuttled and with no other parties holding enough seats
to form a government, Mahathir remained caretaker prime minister. Malaysia’s king, Sultan
Abdullah, met with individual members of parliament in an attempt to resolve the political
crisis while Anwar tried to gather a coalition of opposition groups under his banner.
Mahathir, for his part, apologized for any confusion that he may have caused and proposed
the formation of a nonpartisan government with himself at the head. Although Mahathir and
Anwar quickly reconciled and declared that they had assembled a working parliamentary
majority, Sultan Abdullah announced that UMNO candidate Muhyiddin Yassin would be
Malaysia’s prime minister.

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Leadership style

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad came into power as the Prime Minister of Malaysia for the
second time in May 2018. At 92, he was the eldest Head of Government in the world. His
first term in Office was from 1981 to 2003, after which he resigned and handed the post to his
deputy, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. This man focuses on his leadership patterns and how
they influenced Malaysia's development programmes and her foreign policy.. Tun Dr
Mahathir's wisdom, high intellectual powers, leadership and management skills as well as his
ways of doing things have impressed Malaysians, allowing them to trust and follow his
instructions. He is a unique person with charismatic and effective leadership styles, apart
from being an international relations expert. The writers feel that the Traits Theory is a
suitable approach to explain the leadership patterns shown by Tun Dr Mahathir. Some writers
feel that personality is part of the traits concept that describes a person who has natural
similarities with the traits. The personality of an individual can actually be expressed in many
ways, such as the gestures, physical activities, emotions, feelings, attitudes that can be seen
over a period of time. As a leader, Tun Dr Mahathir feels that he must make decisions for his
people, the results of these decisions will benefit all Malaysians at large. Many of Malaysian
mega projects such as North-South Highway, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Petronas Twin
Towers, and the construction of Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur International
Airport and many other projects were initiated and completed during his era. Under his
second term, Tun Dr Mahathir takes a more liberal and friendly approach to managing
Malaysia's foreign policy. As trading nation, he wants Malaysia to be friendly to all, and
enemy to none. He gives top priority to Malaysia's security to ensure that Malaysia's
multiracial society can live in peace and harmony. After addressing the United Nations
Assembly in 2018, he visited the United Kingdom. Tun Dr Mahathir later made visits to
China, Japan, Russia and Pakistan. In ASEAN region, he made official visits to Indonesia,
Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore to discuss trade and bilateral relationships.
Malaysia and Singapore are actually very close neighbours, linked by a causeway and a
bridge. Singapore gets much of its fresh water from Malaysia and many Malaysians work in
Singapore. Tun Dr Mahathir knows this and handles such bilateral relationship wisely with
high diplomacy where Malaysia-Singapore differences were settled through negotiations.

2. Leadership Pattern of Tun Dr Mahathir

The leadership patterns or characteristics of Tun Dr Mahathir will be viewed and discussed
against the existing theories of leadership. As in the past, it is the characteristics of a person
that are important in order to define what kind of leadership patterns he has in dealing with
his followers, friends or enemies in his daily situations. For example, a good leader requires
rational decisions, optimism, hope, resilience and strong emotional aspects to influence and
attract his followers. At the same time, such leaders should be able to set up goals and
objectives for the country to achieve its short and medium terms objectives as measured
against the long term objectives of Vision 2020 as in the case of Malaysia. The writer feels
that Traits Theory is a suitable approach to explain the leadership patterns or

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characteristics as shown by Tun Dr Mahathir. Generally, traits theorists believe that
“personality can be understood by positing that all people have certain traits, or
characteristic ways of behaving„.
Leaders like Tun Dr Mahathir have ability to manage or able to behave without any
difficulty at times or situations. Tun Dr Mahathir is able become a sociable person, in which
he is able to affect other people‟s emotions and feelings in a direct manner. By so doing,
he is able to learn something new about the conditions or new experiences, and easier for
him later to control or resolve the problems when arise. Traits are not fixed. They can be
shown as the foundation tendencies whereby it remain stable, yet, the characteristics and
behavioral features can change occasionally and it depends on the situation, also on how the
leader faces the problem. A person's behavior is related to the traits which a person
possesses (spirit, emotions or skills) in order to face circumstances or issues. Personality is
a part of the traits concept that describes a person who has the nature similarities with the
traits. The personality of an individual that can be expressed in many things such as the
gestures, physical activities, emotions, feelings, attitudes that can be seen over a period of
time. It is important to note that personality traits play a significant role in an
individual„s development and growth. It is the ability to get along in adult situations. It
also refers to a person„s type of action, reaction, opinion and mood,Thus, Tun Dr Mahathir
as a leader, would have his emotions and feelings in stable condition in order to avoid any
negative views of the people on him. In this way, his followers in Parti Bumiputera Bersatu
Malaysia (BERSATU) and the people of Malaysia at large will believe in his leadership.

3. Tun Dr Mahathir’s Leadership and the People of Malaysia

In the political arena, a leader like Tun Dr Mahathir needs to hear the views and cries of his
people, the ordinary people of Malaysia. It is indeed very important for the leaders in
Malaysia hear or know the different views and opinions of people at the grassroots level,
as each of the opinions is different and unique according to various locations and sectors
of the population. In politics, Tun Dr Mahathir has to be seen as doing his duty and being
fair, and also being seen as making rational decisions in handling every problem and
issue raised. On this count, personality traits approach plays an important role in various
situations in order for Tun Dr Mahathir to manage and resolve various problems of the
Malaysian people.

4. Leadership Patterns of Tun Dr Mahathir

Tun Dr Mahathir‟s rise to power again after May 2018 General Election in Malaysia
has caught many people by surprise. None of the UMNO ruling party leaders have expected
them to loose in the May 2018 general election. Using the traits theories, the writer would
like to discuss the leadership patterns of Tun Dr Mahathir, the newly appointed Prime
Minister of Malaysia, and the world‟s oldest head of State. For a start, what kind of

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leadership patterns is exhibited by Tun Dr Mahathir during his first tenure as Prime Minister
of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003? And the second question: what is his current leadership
patterns after winning the general election in May 2018 and be appointed as the Prime
Minister of Malaysia for the second time? In many ways, Tun Dr Mahathir has his own
style of leadership since taking office as the Prime Minister of Malaysia for the first time
in 1981. A man with a vision, Tun Dr Mahathir wanted to develop Malaysia and
modernize the Malay society so that Malaysia can achieve a developed nation status by
the year 2020. Since Tun Dr Mahathir was appointed as the Prime Minister of Malaysia
in , he has proved to be a capable leader of great integrity, a nation builder and a skilled
diplomat in Malaysian foreign affairs. He led the government machinery with
confidence, improving and modernize various administrative systems on the way. Tun
Dr Mahathir introduced many new administrative reforms into the government
machinery, demonstrated by his hands-on approach to problems and issues in dealing
with administrative matters. He led the Malaysian government machinery with
confidence, knowledge, skills and integrity. Tun Dr Mahathir is a man of great vision, in
which he initiated and introduced Vision 2020 for Malaysia back in 1981. In many ways,
Tun Dr Mahathir was known as “Bapa Permodenan Malaysia” owing to his many
development projects, such as the North-South Highway, Kuala Lumpur City Centre,
Petronas Twin Towers, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
According to Boo Teik Khoo (2003), “Tun Dr Mahathir was introducing new policies in
1982.., the mission and goals are clearly made, allowing him to modernize systems within
the Malaysian public sector directly, and brought the matters into behavior changes
among public service, civil servants and the structure”. All these administrative reforms
carried out by Tun Dr Mahathir reflected the positive side of Tun Dr Mahathir‟s
leadership patterns. In fact, many of Tun Dr Mahathir‟s actions and unique behavior
patterns have resulted in great development and economic growth for Malaysia.
Generally, one could say that, there are two main characteristics that could be seen in
his leadership patterns. First, Tun Dr Mahathir was able to develop or turn Malaysia from an
agriculture country into a modern and industrialized nation. He believes that through his
strong and positive leadership style, he could develop and modernize Malaysia to be one of
the “Asian Tigers” along with Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. To Tun Dr
Mahathir, a good leader must think ahead and find ways to solve the various problems faced
by his country and her people.

5. Democracy, Leadership And Tun Dr Mahathir’s Achievements

Tun Dr Mahathir‟s view of democratic leadership was a bit unique and different in
comparison to the basic principles of democracy. the meaning of democracy can be
taken to mean “the power of the people”,This simply means the democratic desire of the
people to have a leader that follows the voices of the majority of the people. But
unfortunately, this idea of democracy differs from those principles of democracy as
practiced by Tun Dr Mahathir. Regarding democracy and leadership characteristics, Tun
Dr Mahahir feels that those leaders who are obeying the voice of the people are known as
“coward leaders” not confident to make their own decisions about the people and their
country. Therefore, Tun Dr Mahathir feels that, as a leader and Prime Minister of
Malaysia, he must make decisions for the people, and the results of these decisions will

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benefit Malaysians at large. For example, the construction of the North-South Highway,
Kuala Lumpur City Centre and the Petronas Twin Towers and the creation of Putrajaya as
the national capital of Malaysia, the construction of Kuala Lumpur International Airport as an
airport for the future for Malaysia. There are many other projects for Malaysia which
were initiated and completed by Tun Dr Mahathir for the people of Malaysia. Tun Dr
Mahathir feels that Malaysia should have good and honest leaders with high integrity,
committed to working for the country and people who have voted them into power. To Tun
Dr Mahathir, democracy should have an administrative system which is good, fair and
smooth running to serve the people. The Malaysian government machinery should be
run by committed and responsible leaders who want to develop the country and its people.
It is interesting to note that, Tun Dr Mahathir still holds up with his development
philosophy, in which he is confident that his administrative behaviors and policies are
still relevant and according to the needs of the people and the country. Bennis and Nanus
(1997) said that, leaders must have a great vision for his country or
January-February 2020 ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 10290- 10302 10294 Published by: The
Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc. organization, and they must have a strong passion to follow it
through their vision and achieve the long term goals of that vision, which will benefit
the country and the people. The second leadership characteristic of Tun Dr Mahathir‟s
leadership patterns is that, he has incredible ideas of how to implement the policies and
run the administration machinery of Malaysia, a multiracial country of three major races:
Malays, Chinese and Indians. Tun Dr. Mahathir believes that a good leader must be
intelligent, with a diversity of ideas and knowledge, backed up with great experience in
politics, governing and administration matters, including diplomatic relations with other
countries. To Tun Dr Mahathir, a leader must also be innovative with great ideas, and be
creative in certain ways to solve some problems that others could not do. In many
ways, the development of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and beyond was due to the creative
thinking and smart administration of Tun Dr Mahathir. The success of development
projects in Malaysia, the rise of Malaysia as an economic power in the ASEAN region
as well as Malaysia‟s smooth foreign relations with other countries between 1981 and
2003 were due to Tun Dr Mahathir‟s smart thinking and wise management of the country.
To name a few of these great achievements, Tun Dr Mahathir has introduced the “Look East
Policy”, where Malaysians are encouraged to follow the work ethics of the Japanese
and the Koreans. He also implemented the Privatization Policy and State Industrial Policy
where private sector must work together with the public sector for economic
development of Malaysia. Tun Dr Mahathir initiated and implemented several mega
projects in the country to boost economic activities. He built the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport (KLIA), Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) as a multipurpose
development in Central Kuala Lumpur. For the future of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir
introduced Vision 2020, which aimed at making Malaysia a developed nation by the year
2020. In short, Tun Dr Mahathir‟s Vision 2020 aims at creating Malaysia as a united,
progressive and developed country by 2020, having good moral and ethical values where
the three main races are living peacefully. It is well known that Tun Dr Mahathir is a wise

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intelligent and capable leader, able to initiate, create and implement a variety of
projects for the people of Malaysia. Tun Dr Mahathir is a wise and smart leader who was
able to overcome the 1989 financial crisis without Malaysia getting the help of the
World Bank. In order to avoid Malaysia falling into the said financial crisis, Tun Dr
Mahathir has applied a few elements of leadership theories in his management and
administration. He was able to successfully overcome Malaysian worst financial crisis.
'Mahathiriskonomisme', in which they referred to the way Tun Dr Mahathir managed to
pull Malaysia through the said financial crisis. Tun Dr Mahathir‟s leadership style was
unique and at times, practical when he was able to save Malaysia from the 1989 financial
crisis. As a leader, Tun Dr Mahathir is very open-minded and very positive to feedback
he gets from the people, locally or overseas. For example, when he introduced the “Look East
Policy” in 1982, where he wanted Malaysians to emulate the work culture of the Koreans
and Japanese. , Tun Dr Mahathir‟s Look East Policy was to follow the ways and
behavior of Japanese workers in their organizations with strong integrity and high work
discipline. Tun Dr Mahathir‟s patterns of leadership can be seen everywhere in the
administration of Malaysia during his era as the Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003. In theory,
the ideas and behaviors of the leaders are important in order to attract the followers so
that their followers could give full support to the leaders to achieve the agreed goals. Tun Dr
Mahathir as a leader, was able to bring all Malaysians together and live in a peaceful and
harmonious manner. It is also interesting to point out that, Tun Dr Mahathir was able to
change the minds and thoughts of the Malays, in which he has emphasized many times,
that the Malays should not be too dependent on government aids and helps. He strongly
believes that the Malays are equally good and at par with other races in Malaysia. The
Malays should be given equal opportunities and a level playing field in doing business in
Malaysia and in the pursuit of higher education. The Malays, after getting independence
from the British in 1957, should have strong faith in their abilities and be self-confident in
dealings with other races at home or at the international level.
The success of administrative reforms in Malaysia was largely due to efforts, leadership and
strong commitment of Tun Dr Mahathir. According to Tun Dr Mahathir, “To be a great
leader, one needs to have good strategies, be knowledgeable and able to predict the
future” (Lujain, 2011). The leadership patterns of Tun Dr Mahathir was unique and
personal, only belonging to him alone. He has received praises from other leaders of the
world. His Vision 2020 were well received and having widespread praises from the
international arena. (The World Bank, 1997). To assure that Malaysia have quality
workers, Tun Dr Mahathir has introduced many administrative reforms into the
Malaysian Public Service. Among his more popular initiatives were the introduction of
the Punch Card System (PCS), Modified Budgeting System (MBS), Quality Circle Control
(QCC) and the Total Quality Management (TQM). The main purpose of these
administrative reforms is to ensure that Malaysia‟s public sector has quality officers
and workers for its industrial developments and nation building projects. Tun Dr
Mahathir‟s E-Government initiatives within Malaysian public service are meant to create
better and more efficient service to government‟s clients and the people of Malaysia.
dealings that are related to electronic operations can be done without using any papers. They
are done by using online applications through various channels and systems. Research
findings show that, E-Government applications could also produce new channels for
the people of Malaysia to air their views. E-Government can allow all Malaysians to be

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active participants in the administration and management of the country. The intellectual
capacity, high spirit and energy of Tun Dr Mahathir has allowed him to travel to many
parts of the nation to perform various functions and activities when he is the Prime
Minister of Malaysia. Tun Dr Mahathir feels that as a leader, he should be knowledgeable,
have plans and strategies with excellent time management in order to perform his
duties and commitments successful

Task-focused or people-focused

I think both

On May 9th 2018, Malaysians voted in a new government to rule the country. At the centre
of this historical change for Malaysia was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who made a stunning
comeback to politics after stepping down 15 years ago. There are many things to learn from
this nonagenarian, whose victory is proof that age is not a detriment to success. Here, we
observed and picked out four exemplary leadership qualities from the oldest Prime Minister
in the world as he now leads the country's transition to a new future.

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Guts and Grit in the face of adversity

“Guts is a commodity that is scarce in this country,” said this indefatigable leader to the
press last week.
Throughout the years, Tun Dr Mahathir was levelled with criticism for his assertive
leadership, with labels such as autocrat and dictator being hurled at him for his indomitable
will and often hard-hitting ways of getting things done.
Yet, the statesman shrugged off the criticisms because he was motivated by a singular goal he
has often repeated in his public speeches—to restore good governance and rule of law to the
country. This goal sustained him through his rollercoaster journey back from retirement to
once again taking the helm of the country’s administration.

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Listen carefully to your people.

“For a dictator, I am a good listener,” the larger-than-life politician remarked wittily

during a press conference after his Pakatan Harapan coalition was declared the winner at the
recent elections. The chairman of the Pakatan Harapan coalition is spearheading change in
the country by managing 'a motley of parties' beneath him from four different idealogies. This
is seen as a difficult task.

Yet, despite the odds, he has shown an aptitude for embracing input, especially from youthful
voices in in his own coalition like Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman and Fahmi Fadzil, who spoke
up about how Tun Dr Mahathir would often ask for insights during meetings. This important
trait has helped him become the formidable leader he is today

Communicate with clarity and conviction to your stakeholders.

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Tun Dr Mahathir knows who his stakeholders are. It is the people who believed in him and
voted him back into the premiership of the country. With this, he tailored his message to his
stakeholders. In the campaigning season, Tun Dr Mahathir crisscrossed Peninsular Malaysia
for rallies and speeches. Known for his wit and humour in both English and Malay, he
consistently drove home a message of reform and described his hope for the nation’s return to
glory as an economic powerhouse.

He also simplified complex issues like how alleged corruption and abuse of power have
affected our nation’s economy in layman terms to make a case to the people on why a change
is necessary.

A night before Election Day, thousands of Malaysians watched as he spoke about his hope
for a new, reformed Malaysia—a heartfelt, powerful speech that no doubt tipped the scale in
his favour—when Malaysians went out to vote the next day.

Keep calm and lead on

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Even after he was sworn into the Prime Minister office, Tun Dr Mahathir continued
communicating with the public—through press conferences and statements—on the
initiatives by the new government, from investigating corruption to overhauling the nation’s
financial health spending.

Yet, despite the uncertainty and weight on his shoulders, Tun Dr Mahathir displayed a
patience that reminded us more of a grandfather than a ‘dictator’. At every public appearance
he makes, he answered questions about the state of the nation’s economy and politics with
calmness and confidence.

While he is aware that his stakeholders are hoping he could solve the nation's issues quickly,
he has expressed that every decision he makes must adhere to the rules of law. “Everything
takes time, even answering you takes time,” was his response to a reporter’s query on his
initiatives. Spoken like the wise leader he is.

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Describe why you had chosen that leader

Mahathir Mohamad : The man who dominated Malaysian politics

Mahathir had previously served as the country’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003.
At the age of 94, Mahathir Mohamad is a name that has dominated Malaysian politics for
decades.
He was voted in as the country's prime minister in 2018, but in February 2020, found himself
ousted in a twist of events that saw the collapse of the governing coalition.
Mahathir had previously served as the country's prime minister from 1981 to 2003.
But in 2018, he came out of retirement in a bid to take down former prime minister Najib
Razak - who has been accused of embezzling hundreds of millions in state funds.
Mr Mahathir, together with former coalition leader Anwar Ibrahim, successfully took down
Mr Najib.
But the alliance showed that it could not withstand the weight of internal rivalries. Mr
Mahathir's resignation triggered the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, paving the
way for a new prime minister.
As quickly as it begun, Mr Mahathir was removed from the post, replaced by a former party
member of his - Muhyiddin Yassin. Mr Mahathir has described the appointment of Mr
Muhyiddin as illegal and a betrayal.
But the saga is still far from over - and it's clear Mr Mahathir will not go down without a
fight.

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Humble beginnings
Mr Mahathir joined political party United Malays National Organisation at the age of 21 and
ran a medical practice for seven years in his home state of Kedah before becoming a member
of parliament in 1964.
In 1969 he lost his seat and was expelled from the party after writing an open letter attacking
the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
He later wrote a controversial book entitled The Malay Dilemma. In it, he argued that the
country's Malay population had been marginalised, but also castigated them for apathetically
accepting a second-class status.
It struck a chord with younger UMNO leaders and he was invited back into the party, re-
elected to parliament in 1974, and appointed minister of education. Within four years he had
become UMNO's deputy leader and, in 1981, he became prime minister.
A 92-year-old politician's big comeback?
Malaysia's youth have power they won't use
Politics and Malaysia's multi-racial voters
Under his rule, Malaysia transformed into one of the Asian economic tigers of the 1990s -
prestige projects such as the Petronas Twin Towers demonstrated the extent of his ambitions.
His authoritarian but pragmatic policies won him popular support at home, though this was
tempered by his scant regard for human rights.

Black eye for democracy

Opposition politicians were jailed without trial under a much-criticised Internal Security Act.
Most infamously, his deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was sacked, accused of
corruption and sodomy and later jailed on the latter charge, when he called for economic and
political reforms in 1998.

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Frequent barbed comments about the West also earned Mr Mahathir a reputation abroad.
Days before he resigned in October 2003, for example, he angered several foreign
governments and Jewish groups by claiming a Jewish cabal "ruled the world".
He said he left his post "disappointed... because I have achieved too little in my principal task
of making my race a successful race, a race that is respected".
Bitter medicine
Even in retirement, he never really left the political arena.
He publicly criticised his successor Abdullah Badawi and, after lacklustre election results for
the ruling coalition in 2008, quit the party in what many saw as a way to pressure Mr
Abdullah to go.
That paved the way for Mr Najib to come to power.
Mr Mahathir's initial support for Mr Najib changed, however, as accusations of corruption
against him surfaced in regard to a heavily indebted state investment fund called 1Malaysia
Development Berhad (1MDB).
US looks to seize $540m in 'stolen' assets from Malaysia fund 1MDB
1MDB: The case that has riveted Malaysia
Malaysian artist jailed for mocking Prime Minister Najib Razak
He commanded enough loyalty from supporters within UMNO to press the case against Mr
Najib from within the party and government.
When they got nowhere, however, he, and several high-profile supporters quit UMNO and
crossed over to the opposition in 2016.
In January 2018, he announced his intention to contest the election, at the age of 92.

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On 9 May, he won a historic victory, ousting his former allies after more than 60 years in
power.
He, together with Mr Anwar and several other parties, formed the Pakatan Harapan coalition,
which ruled the country for two years before it collapsed.
Malaysia gets new PM after week of turmoil
Mr Mahathir threw the country's politics into turmoil in late February 2020 when he resigned,
breaking his alliance with Mr Anwar.
But after his resignation, he and Mr Anwar later announced that they had, in fact, reunited
again and commanded majority support.
But the king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, who had ultimate say on who should form
a government, chose Mr Muhyiddin.
A former interior minister, Mr Muhyiddin once controversially described himself as "Malay
first" and Malaysian second.

Conclusion

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 Dr. Mahathir has been selected as president and prime minister to-4 at the age of 55
years.

Dr. Mahathir called the “Father of Modernisation of Malaysia” and a leader of the
longest tenure as Prime Minister, from 16 July 1981 to 31 October 2003.

During the 22 years he held high-level administrative positions, a lot of progress and
development that has been his plan and implement. Although sometimes his own
ideas and vision are not well understood, but the fact is that he was a far-sighted and
progressive, even further away from thinking of the Malays in particular.

In 1997, Asiaweek magazine has named Dr. Mahathir as one of 50 most powerful
individuals in Asia, where he came second in the list released by the magazine.

His nomination was correct because when the world economy is in turmoil and the
currency crisis hit most countries in the world especially in Asian countries like
Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Dr. Mahathir succeeded in controlling the economic downturn with peg the ringgit to
the U.S. dollar, an approach that was initially criticized by the world financial bodies
like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Proven result, Malaysia is
the only country that managed to escape from the shackles of recession, without
having to “bind themselves” to conditions set by the IMF as happened to other
countries in Asia. In fact, the General Manager of the IMF, Horst Kohler, had praised
the action taken Dr. Mahathir in control of the country’s currency.

His position as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Malaysia is appropriate and accurate
with his vision and target plan. Dr. Mahathir has transformed the country’s basic
economic sectors of a country based on agriculture to an industrial based countries.
Moments earlier he entrusted the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the country’s economy
was then largely dependent on primary commodity materials such as rubber, palm
oil, tin and petroleum industries are still cultivated on a small scale.

As commodity can not help create more jobs, then in the early 1980’s Dr. Mahathir
has decided to diversify the country’s economic activity and thus reduce the
dependence on these commodities. Decision he is right because in the mid-1980s,
the price of commodity materials very badly. This coupled with rising Yen prices have
caused the economic crisis for several years.

Now, the country’s economic dependence on the industrial field so apparent when
the manufacturing sector make up 30% of the country’s economic base, while the
agricultural sector declined to 8% from 23% about 22 years ago.

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Dr. Mahathir of Malaysia Incorporated policy introduced a policy which assumed
Malaysia as a company and its people as employees and shareholders. Several
government agencies have been privatized to ease the financial and government
bebebanan. Going administration many utility companies like National Electricity
Board, Department of Telecommunications and so on, have been listed as a public
corporation. Incorporated Malaysia improve performance, productivity and image of
the country. Among other measures, the increase in heavy industry and the
Development Division also important foreign technology transfer to Malaysia
technocrats. One of the success in this movement was the establishment of the
country otomatif industry, the show cars and motorcycles are the best-selling
national in Malaysia. Incorporated also aimed at promoting cooperation and working
as a partner of the public sector. Dr. Mahathir also increase Bumiputera participation
in the ownership of industrial and commercial sector with the establishment of PNB
(PNB) and Amanah Saham Nasional and Amanah Saham Bumiputera and some of
the stocks in the portfolio of trust funds.

In an effort to chart the country’s name in the international arena, various gigantic
project was inspired by Dr. Mahathir. Some of the earliest when he was just holding
the post of prime minister is proton production projects through HICOM (Heavy
Industries Corporation of Malaysia).

Although his project is considered a bit extreme because the country was still young
in the national car manufacturing project but our country can be proud of this
project was so successful that they can compete with other car manufacturers around
the world.

As someone who has held the reins supreme state management, financial problems,
and he has always been a concern among his important task is to ensure that the
country’s financial expenses remain controllable.

Country’s privatization policy is an example of his financial management rather

strongly even sparked controversy in early implementation. Policy introduced at the
end of the 1980s aimed to reduce spending by the government and provide better
service.

Although many are questioning this policy, because there are charges of favourite
going on companies that offer government projects, but more and more people can
enjoy better results from policies that made this.

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In addition, this policy also brings tremendous changes especially in the technology
field because the parties involved need to have expertise in the field of technology to
ensure that the services offered cheap but high quality.

Wisdom Tun Dr. Mahathir in managing the ‘business’ is indeed a natural because he
was a young entrepreneur in town Wednesday, Alor Setar while still at school.

In addition to the national car project, another large project (mega project) that he is
the trigger MSC or Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). This project is inspired and
realized as Dr. Mahathir has realized the importance of information and
communication technology (ICT) in the commercial world today and the future.

Large projects are developed and realized when he was ‘CEO’ Malaysia is among the
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Jalil National Stadium, Sepang
International Circuit, a prestigious motorsport racing, Formula One and the Petronas
Twin Towers.

These projects have indirectly resulted in Malaysia as a developing country, known to

the world. Even the pattern of administration and firmness shown by Dr. When Prime
Minister Mahathir causes the respect of the country.

Over the next 22 years as Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir led Malaysia to the top
excellence. Malaysia has gone through various changes in physical, mental and
social. Malaysia has become a formidable and respected country in the world stage.
Malaysia is able to stand tall and be low among the world’s developed countries. The
success of Malaysia as a developing country and an ideal Islamic state in the region
has been recognized the world. Inheritance left by Dr. Mahathir can we see are on
the go.

Reference

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 -https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
340644896_Tun_Dr_Mahathirs_Leadership_Patterns_and_the_Success_Story_of_Malay
sia
-https://www.ukessays.com/essays/history/tun-dr-mahathir-of-malaysia-history-essay.php

- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44028023
- https://my.asiatatler.com/society/prime-minister-tun-dr-mahathir-mohamad-leadership
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mahathir-bin-Mohamad