| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Mahathir bin Mohamad |
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(mähä´t r bn m häm´äd) (KEY) , 1925–, Malaysian political leader. A doctor by training, he first entered parliament in 1964 and rose in the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), but lost his seat and was expelled from UMNO in 1969 after criticizing Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. Subsequently readmitted into UMNO, he was reelected to parliament in 1974 and held several ministerial posts in the 1970s, including deputy prime minister beginning in 1976. Prime minister of a UMNO-led National Front coalition government after 1981, Mahathir sought to make Malaysia an industrial nation and develop Malay businesses, and promoted nonindividualistic “Asian values” while often denouncing the West. Although Malaysia made enormous and rapid economic progress under Mahathir, political stability was maintained by not tolerating dissent and restricting political freedoms, and his government was denounced for human-rights abuses. He retired as prime minister in 2003. Out of office he has continued to be outspoken and sometimes critical of the Malaysian government. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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