A chronology of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
A chronology of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
Major events in the life of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, who retires Friday after more than 22 years in power:
* Dec. 20, 1925: Born in Alor Setar, northern Malaysia, where his
father is a teacher. A hard-working and bright student, he
eventually enrolls in medical school in Singapore.
* 1946: Joins the United Malays National Organization the year it
is founded. UMNO, representing the interests of the Malay Muslim
majority, has been the dominant party in the ethnically-based
ruling coalition since Malaysia achieved independence from
Britain in 1957.
* 1957: Opens a medical practice in Alor Setar and marries fellow
doctor Siti Hasmah Ali, with whom he has four sons and three
daughters.
* 1964: Elected to Parliament after contesting general elections
for the first time.
* 1969: Loses his seat in elections and is expelled from UMNO for
criticizing then-Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's policies.
The same year, race riots in Kuala Lumpur kill hundreds of
people, mostly ethnic Chinese.
* 1970: Mahathir's book, The Malay Dilemma, is published in
Singapore. Banned in Malaysia through the 1970s, the book helps
define Mahathir's status as political maverick, critic of the
West and nationalistic defender of ethnic Malays. The same year,
Abdul Rahman retires, paving the way for Mahathir's return to
UMNO.
* 1974: Re-elected to Parliament, Mahathir is appointed education
minister. By 1976, he is deputy prime minister.
* July 16, 1981: Elected as UMNO president and sworn in as
Malaysia's fourth prime minister after the incumbent, Hussein
Onn, resigns for health reasons.
* 1985: Drawing inspiration from Japan, Mahathir launches a
national auto industry. He also favors government-boosted
industrial and high-tech development that eventually make
Malaysia the 17th-ranked trading nation.
* 1987: Mahathir narrowly wins an UMNO leadership ballot, but
opponents demand it be annulled because votes from improperly
registered divisions were counted. Ruling on the dispute, the
High Court declares that UMNO in its entirety had been unlawfully
registered.
Mahathir swiftly forms New UMNO and bars his opponents from
joining; arrests more than 100 opposition members and independent
critics; suspends four newspapers' licenses; and rushes
legislative changes to curb judicial independence and media
criticism.
* Jan. 24, 1989: Has heart bypass surgery after being
hospitalized with chest pains.
* September, 1998: After more than a year of accusing Western
"rogue speculators" of causing an economic crisis in Asia,
Mahathir announces sweeping capital controls, overruling advice
from the International Monetary Fund.
At the same time, Mahathir fires his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim,
who is subsequently arrested, convicted of sodomy and corruption
and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Anwar's case triggers
massive anti-government protests that continue sporadically for a
few years.
* November, 1999: Mahathir's coalition wins national elections,
but his party loses ground to fundamentalist Islamic opposition.
On the economic front, Malaysia suffers a shallower recession
than its neighbors and the IMF eventually vindicates Mahathir's
policies.
* September, 2001: Mahathir signs the condolence book at the U.S.
Embassy for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. He cracks down
hard on terror suspects, but later opposes the U.S.-led wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
* June 22, 2002: Mahathir stuns Malaysia by announcing in a
televised speech that he is retiring. He withdraws the
resignation an hour later after party leaders beg him to stay,
and agrees to a 16-month transition.
* Oct. 16, 2003: In a speech while hosting a summit of Islamic
countries, Mahathir claims that Jews "rule the world by proxy.
They get others to fight and die for them." His comments draw
condemnation from the United States, the European Union, other
countries and Jewish groups. -- AP