The Rise and Fall of The Great Mahathir Mohamad

On Saturday, November 19, for the first time in 53 years, Dr Mahathir Bin Muhammad lost his parliamentary seat. This signals the likely ending career of the world's oldest and Asia's most enduring politician.

Born in Alor Sater, an unfederated Malay state, on July 10, 1925, Mahathir pursued a career in medicine and served as a government doctor till 1956. The same year, he returned to his home town and started his private practice. Mahathir was a strict supporter of The United Malays National Organization, and thus he was inducted as a member. He ran in 1964 for his first political office and won. He was appointed as a senator in Prime Minister Razzak Hussein's regime. In 1974 he was selected as the minister for education. Soon afterwards, Mahathir ran for the vice presidency in the UNMO party and won. This set him up to be the deputy prime minister. In 1981, Mahathir became Prime Minister. He ushered in a new era in Malaysian history with his progressive policies.

Mahathir's first and most significant achievement was to limit the Malaysian monarchy's authority over the assembly. Though the political battle was long and tiring, Mahathir eventually came out on top in 1983. On the economic front, he started privatising government enterprises. He also managed the launching of the car company "Proton", a Mitsubishi and Malaysian government joint enterprise. Mahathir went on to ace the 1987 elections after defeating a rebellion within his party. In 1990 he put forth Vision 2020, which aimed to transform Malaysia into a developed country. He started supporting the involvement of other ethnicities in the Malaysian government. The GDP growth from 1990-1997 averaged over 9 per cent. He also supported the involvement of other ethnicities in Malay administration. Mahathir was pulled into another tussle with the Malay Royals in 1994. He emerged victorious and made constitutional amendments that limited the royals' lavish spending. When the 1997 Asian financial crisis hit, Mahathir manoeuvred the state out of the crisis by negotiating with the IMF and fixing the dollar against the Ringgit. He followed a balanced foreign policy with the West, but his reliance was towards the East for Malaysia's sustenance. He orchestrated a campaign titled "Look East" The campaign's goal was to focus on Asian development and shift reliance on western allies. In 2001 he announced his retirement from politics and finally resigned in 2003.

In the year 2015, Mahathir once again returned to politics. He and his wife called for the resignation of the then PM "Najib Razzak" over the Malaysian Development Bread corruption scandal. Eventually, he resigned from UNMO and joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. He became the party's chairman and joined the opposition coalition. Following the 2018 election, he was re-elected as PM at the age of 92 years, making him the world's oldest living PM. In February 2020, disagreements over who should lead the government caused the Pakistan-Harapan coalition to collapse and culminated in a political crisis. MPs supporting Anwar first confronted Mahathir in a meeting and demanded a timeframe for his resignation and the handover of power to Anwar. Other MPs from several political parties held meetings to discuss forming a new government, with Mahathir remaining Prime Minister. Anwar, Mahathir and other Pakatan leaders met the following day to seek clarification; Mahathir said that he had no plan to be involved in the attempt to form a new governing coalition and thus submitted his resignation. As a response, On February 29, the Agong appointed Muhyiddin as prime minister.

On September 24, 2022, he added that he was ready to become prime minister for a third time if no suitable candidates were available. He said he would not contest or defend his parliamentary seat in Langkawi in the upcoming election. However on October 11, 2022, he confirmed his participation in that year's general election. On November 19, 2022, Mahathir Mohamad lost his parliamentary seat in Langkawi, his first electoral defeat in 53 years, finishing fourth in a pentathlon.

The defeat came as a shock to many and sadly marked the end of one of Asia's most versatile politicians. Though some may argue that Mahathir is down but not out, the future for the 97-year-old looks bleak.

Written By: Saad Ahsan