Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir also know how to pose. Great!!!

mahathir was born on 20th December 1925 in Alor Star, Kedah. His Indian father was a school teacher migrated from Kerala, Southwest India. While his mother was A Malay. Tun generally regards himself as a Malay ethnic but is a strong supporter of Indian community in Malaysia. He sold banana fritters (pisang goreng) during the Japanese occupation of Malaya to help his family financially.

A prominent figure in Malaysia

Mahathir became the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 16 July 1981 when Tun Hussein Onn stepped down due to health reasons. After 22 years in office, Mahathir retired on October 31, 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.

Tun attended Malay school before persuing his education in Sultan Abdul Hamid College. Then he went for a medical degree in King Edward VII Medical College in Singapore. During this time, he contributed to The Straits Times newspaper under the pen name of “Che Det”. He joined the goevernment service soon after graduate. On 5th August 1956, he married Tun Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali (former classmate in college). In 1957, he set up his own private clinic in Alor Star.

As a fellow student under his Vision 2020 (Wawasan 2020), we definitely have learned a lot about him throughout our daily life in school. As a fellow Malaysian, we have heard and see alot about him whether in person or in the tv and read alot about him in the newspaper. He made several landmarks during his term as the Prime Minister. Among those are removing royal veto and royal immunity from prosecution. He also turned malaysia into a regional high-tech manufacturing, financial and telecommunications hub through his economic policies. As what we can see, he realised alot of projects including but not limited to Perwaja Steel, Proton car, Astro satelite tv, Multimedia Super Coridor, North South Expressway, futuristic administration centre Putrajaya, KLIA, Bakun Dam and Petronas Twin Towers. However, as an MMU student, I must thank him for idealising Malaysia’s first private university; Multimedia University.

Honorary Doctorate of Knowledge Science in the year 2004, MMU

During the financial crisis in 1997, his wisdom has brought us out from the economic grive. Eventhough IMF has given Malaysia a recovery fund, he rejected it. During the crisis, Malaysia Ringgit plunged from RM2.50 per USD to RM4.80 per USD. Composite index fell of from about 1300 to just 400 points within weeks. Tun’s defensive measures and his refusal to take in loan from IMF has allowed Malaysia to be free from financial bond. Today, Malaysia’s economic has prosper relatively faster and more stable than affected neighbouring countries. IMF and World Bank acknowledged that his approach had worked.

In 2002 a tearful[44] Mahathir announced his resignation to a surprised UMNO General Assembly. He was persuaded to stay on for a further eighteen months, in a carefully planned handover that ended in October 2003. Since retirement, he has been serving as an advisor to the Malaysian national oil company Petronas and the Malaysian national car company Proton, an original core national project initiated by Mahathir during his premiership. He is also the head of the Perdana Leadership Foundation, a foundation whose aim is to preserve, develop and spread materials regarding or written by previous Malaysian Prime Ministers. While he has retired from all political offices, he remains very outspoken regarding national policies.

On 1st of May , he started his blog (maybe coz labour day, he no need to work, so he is free to do so), chedet.com. It uses blogspot as it’s engine. However, the domain was registered on 9th April. He simply describe himself as the Prime Minister of Malaysia 1981-2003. he claims the site is dedicated to publishing his writings as and when he is able to pen his thoughts and opinion.

Dont pray pray with Malaysia’s bloggers. Tun is on our side now
p/s this does not mean he condone whatever bad or nasty bloggers write

p/s coincidently, my dream is to sell pisang goreng. If someone who used to sell pisang goreng to help his family and become 1 of the most respectful person in Malaysia, why can’t I be 1 rite???

Tun’s blog: chedet.com