The man who established Malaysia

The man who established Malaysia

Wang Gungwu, Director, East Asian Institute, University of Singapore,
Project Syndicate

Once again, Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad acerbic tongue has
incited controversy. But his long rule in his country -- which
ends Nov. 1 -- amounts to much more than intemperate remarks, as
Wang Gungwu, one of Southeast Asia's leading strategic analysts,
suggests.

Mahathir is stepping down after serving more than 22 years as
the leader of Malaysia and its ruling United Malay National
Organization (UMNO). Today's gleaming, modern Malaysia is
unimaginable without Mahathir and UMNO, which also produced Tunku
Abdul Rahman, the country's first prime minister. Like Mahathir,
Malaysia's fourth prime minister, Tunku led the government and
the party for more than twenty years. Generation-long reigns seem
to have served Malaysia exceedingly well since independence.

Indeed, the continuity delivered by these two men is the
secret of Malaysia's success as a rapidly developing multi-
cultural state. Both began their careers as Malay nationalists
who sought to promote the rights of the Malay majority after the
British left.

But they also recognized that the country's sizable, and
economically powerful, Chinese and Indian minorities, among other
groups, were critical to the country's development and should be
persuaded to accept the new Malay-led state as their own.

Mahathir became prime minister in 1981 when the region was on
the eve of historic change, following the end of the Vietnam War
and Indonesia's stabilization following the bloody civil strife
of the 1960's. The global economic system was buoyant and East
Asia, not least post-Maoist China, was more deeply committed than
anyone expected to support that system.

This encouraged Mahathir to make a clean break with the
British colonial heritage. His call to "look East" marked the
beginning of an ambitious industrialization policy that
culminated, during his 10th year in power, with the Vision 2020
plan to catch up with Western levels of development. By 1997,
Mahathir was at the pinnacle of his power, inspiring the country
to believe that it would not be long before all of the country's
communities would see themselves as sharing a common Malay
nationality.

But the Asian financial crisis that struck later that year
halted the region's trajectory of rapid growth. Against most
international advice, Mahathir imposed capital controls and a
fixed exchange rate for the ringgit to buy time for recovery.

He also sought to shift the sense of crisis away from
economics to politics (where he retained an iron grip) by
removing his designated heir, Anwar Ibrahim, who was Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Finance. Anwar's arrest and trial
stunned the country, but Mahathir surprised few Malays -- either
allies or opponents -- by restoring his authority so thoroughly
following the crisis that he was able to handpick Abdullah Badawi
as his successor.

The launch of the war on terror provided Mahathir with another
opportunity to recover politically. In the face of a world
frightened by Islam, Mahathir was able to affirm a neglected
facet of his leadership, repeatedly reminding the world that he
presided over the one country in the world where a Muslim
majority and large non-Muslim minorities live in peace. There are
several reasons for this success, and Mahathir deserves much of
the credit.

Despite wearing his Malay nationalism on his sleeve, Mahathir
ultimately persuaded most non-Malays that he was not simply a
communal leader but someone who cared for all Malaysia's
communities. In time, he made people forget that he had opposed
Tunku Abdul Rahman for not being sufficiently "Malay" and for
conceding too much to the Chinese and Indian coalition partners
in Tunku's early post-independence governments.

Mahathir, the first commoner to be Malaysian prime minister,
became a leading Asian modernizer in another fundamental way, as
well. He quickly took up a divisive constitutional battle against
the hereditary Malay rulers, the nine sultans, and succeeded in
curtailing their privileges and powers.

Having overcome the inertia of communal suspicions and
dynastic traditions, Mahathir was able to drive the country onto
a course of rapid industrialization. Initially, his ambitious
plans to make Malaysia an economic model for developing nations
exposed him to both ridicule and admiration. Many thought that he
was moving too far, too fast; that he was expecting too much from
Malays asked to make the cultural quantum leap from village to
boardroom in a generation.

But he was determined to break the traditional Malay mold and
succeeded in building a new urban middle class. Mahathir appears
to have been spurred on by the successes of the neighboring
island-state of Singapore, briefly a part of Malaysia, on its
swift march to First World status. Having studied for his medical
degree in Singapore, he appreciated the country's commitment to
modernity. He will not want Malaysia to fall far behind.

This competitive approach towards Singapore is in line with
the concerns he expressed in his The Malay Dilemma. His thinking
has become more adventurous and he has moved on to tackling the
world of cyberspace and multimedia corridors. But the goal is
still to build a Malaysia where Malays will always lead non-Malay
minorities in shaping the country's future. That, perhaps, is the
greatest continuity of all in Malaysia's legacy of generational
rulers.