MALAYSIAN STUDIES

(MPW 2133)

Semester May 2015

Book Review: Mahathir bin

Mohammad as National Equivocator

Book Name : Malay Dilemma

Author Name: Mahathir Bin Mohammad

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Kamal, our lecturer for his great effort in delivering his

knowledge to us during this semester. Also, we would like to extend our thanks to him for being

an open person to ideas, and for encouraging us to give our opinions and ideas throughout the

semester. In addition, we would like to express our deep gratitude and respect to the UTP’s IRC

for providing us with books which gave us more information about our topic.

Finally, we are very grateful to all of our peers and fellow students who have helped us along

this semester to finish this project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1. Introduction

2. Literature Review

3. The significant of the book to Malaysian Studies

4. Counter Arguments about Mahathirism

4.1 End of mahathirism

4.2 Tearing down Mahathirism

5. Conclusion

6. References

MAHATHIR MOHAMAD AS A CULTURAL RELATIVIST:

MAHATHIRISM ON HUMAN RIGHTS

INTRODUCTION

You can expect all sort of sentiments when it comes to Tuan Dr. Mahathir. Just by his name, you

can get all varieties of responses! 20 December 1925 was the date when this majestic human was

born at Alor Sitar, Kedah. Mahathir Mohammad served Malaysia as Prime minister for 22

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long years (1981 – 2003). It can be considered as “The Golden Era of Malaysia” because of

the huge developments that took place! Not only that, but Mahathir Mohammad was Malaysia’s

longest serving Prime Minister and holds a strong position amongst one of the longest serving

leaders in entire Asia!

In my book review, I would be discussing about what he, Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, had done to

Malaysia and what are people’s perspective about him. This magnificent country became a

Modern Industrial Nation from an under developed country! This evolution was experienced

when it was Dr. Mahathir’s regime!

Dr Mahathir has given a lot of his time and endless contribution to Malaysia during his tenancy

as Prime Minister of Malaysia. To uphold and toughen the racial harmony within Malaysia was

his first most prioritized objective! Improvised the position of the Malays in the business sector

and other matter in response to maintain the balance of opportunity for everyone! Furthermore

Unity between the Multi-Racial Malaysians under one country was practiced successfully!

Which brought an end to dispute amongst the races and a start to ever-prospering and peaceful

Malaysia. To make Malaysia country with a national audience and one of the richest and most

successful countries throughout the world, Dr Mahathir had sort out a way to accomplish this.

Mahathir had a significant impact on the economy, culture and government of Malaysia. He won

five consecutive elections and served for 22 years, longer than any other prime minister in

Malaysia’s history. Under him, Malaysia experienced rapid economic growth. He began

privatizing government enterprises, including airlines, utilities and telecommunications, which

raised money for the government and improved working conditions for many employees,

although many of the beneficiaries were UMNO supporters. One of his most significant

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infrastructure projects was the North-South Expressway, a highway that runs from the Thai

border to Singapore.

From 1988 to 1996, Malaysia saw an 8 percent economic expansion, and Mahathir released an

economic plan—The Way Forward, or Vision 2020—asserting that the country would be a fully

developed nation by 2020. He helped shift the country’s economic base away from agriculture

and natural resources and toward manufacturing and exporting, and the country’s per capita

income doubled from 1990 to 1996. Although Malaysia’s growth has slowed and it’s unlikely

the country will achieve this goal, the economy remains stable.

But in spite of these accomplishments, Mahathir leaves a mixed legacy. Although he began his

first term conservatively, during the 1980s Mahathir became more authoritarian. In 1987 he

instituted the Internal Security Act, which permitted him to close four newspapers and order the

arrests of 106 activists, religious leaders and political opponents, including Anwar Ibrahim, his

former deputy prime minister. He also altered the constitution to restrictive the interpretive

power of the Supreme Court, and he forced a number of high-ranking members to resign.

Mahathir’s record on civil liberties, as well as his criticisms of Western economic policies and

industrialized nations’ policies toward developing countries, made his relationships with the

United States, Britain and Australia difficult. He banned The New York Times and The Wall

Street Journal for printing negative editorials about him, and supported a national law

condemning drug smugglers to death, resulting in the execution of several Western citizens.

Mahathir retired in 2003, and remains an active and visible part of Malaysia’s political

landscape. He is an ardent critic of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whom he chose to succeed

him.

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According to R.S. Milne and Diane K. Mauzy (1999: 168), “Mahathirism is not a guide to

Mahathir’s thoughts or actions. Rather, Mahathir’s thoughts and actions are a guide to

constructing Mahathirism. Mahathirism is an exercise in allocating thoughts into logical

categories with the aim of achieving intellectual satisfaction and understanding”.

As an advocate of “Asian values”, Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister who controlled

Malaysia from 1981 till 2003, explained that Malay-Islamic Culture is based on “Asian Values”

of Malaysian’s perspectives and it should be protected and prevented against the adaption of

Western Values. He believed that universalism or the Western liberal notion of human rights

might corrupt Malaysian culture and religious beliefs, He urged the three most basic components

of “Malayness” which includes Feudalism, Islamic Practices and The Traditional Customs.

In response to campaign against “Western Values” and his concerns about the influence of

Western Individualism, and the future of Asian values and Asian’ traditions. He accepted the

idea of cultural relativism and launched the “Look East” policy. In 1982, Mahathir ordered

United Malays National Organizations (UMNO) to look east and to imitate the diligence found

there and get rid ourselves of the Western values that Malaysians have adapted.

Natural law, Liberal-Individual and embodied in International Human rights law, for example,

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the rest on the proposition that the

human attributes are unique, and that all humans consist of certain inalienable rights, gave birth

to the idea of “Universalism”.

Universal is a term which has been interpreted by others to mean that no institution or person

anywhere may take away the rights of other human being. It’s a completely different matter to

enforce such rights! In short, these three meanings, Idea of Universalism was argued by Donolly

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and he consider it is “Human rights, because they rely on nobody other than being human, are

universal, equal, and inalienable. They are held by all human beings, universally…Human rights,

being held by every person against the state and society, He provided a framework for political

organizations and a standard of political legitimacy.” (Donnelly, 2001: 1). In contrast, cultural

relativism in definition “is the assertion that human values, far from being universal, vary a great

deal according to different cultural perspectives. Some would apply this relativism to the

promotion, protection, interpretation and application of human rights which could be interpreted

differently within different cultural, ethnic and religious traditions. In other words, according to

this view, human rights are culturally relative rather than universal” (Ayton-Shenker, 1995: 1).

STRONG GOVERNMENT

In Western culture, the idea of breaking point government is a typical practice where the

administration mediations in individual freedoms and the economy are constrained by law, as a

rule in a constitution. This idea is firmly connected with libertarianism and established

progressivism in the West. It has roots in Hebraic Law and Magna Carta and the US Constitution

are samples of constraining of government forces in Western Civilisation. Mahathir, on the other

hand, contended that individuals in Asian nations have confidence in the thought of solid

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government, not constrained government or state moderation. Mahathir (1999: 77-78) said that

Malaysians (Asians) ought to regard power on the grounds that power ensures social strength:

without power and solidness there can be no consideration, even a Western culture praising

individual rights, will section and turn out to be more disarranged. In any case, Mahathir

contended that solid power does not obviously mean authoritarian rulers. Indeed, Mahathir

conceded that despite everything he has confidence in popular government, in light of the fact

that vote based system empowers the evacuation of a pioneer without carnage. In any case, he

contended that even inside of the most vote based framework, natives must pay due admiration

to government and comprehend the requirement for sound harmony between individual rights

and commitments towards society.

Then again, Mahathir has made a stride further by empowering feudalistic reliability among

individuals to his administration. Case in point, in the wake of warding off a test to his

administration of the UMNO at its general get together in 1996, Mahathir reminded his gathering

of people that "as indicated by Malay custom… it is inconsiderate for somebody who sits in the

same board of trustees or bureau to challenge another who likewise happens to be his supervisor"

(Case, 2002: 19). The UMNO's lasting seat had before made the same point, exhorting that while

administration difficulties were formally allowed in the party's constitution, really to mount one

spurned social understandings; "As indicated by Malay convention, it is foul play" (Case, 2002:

19). This, in any case, plainly demonstrates how the political first class have abused Malay

society and Asian values keeping in mind the end goal to legitimize their despotic authority

THE SIGNIFICANT OF THE BOOK TO MALAYSIAN STUDIES

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The fundamental book that has been utilized for this task was, Politics in Temporary Asia –

Malaysia, Mahathirism, Hegemony and the New Opposition, composed by John Hilley, let us

learn or study about Malaysia as a country, since the investigation of a country is not simply the

investigation of its social and financial framework, it incorporates likewise its political

framework which has an extraordinary essentialness for a country. Should be accentuated that

the book clarified how the fourth president of Malaysia Dr. Mahathir receptacle Mohamad

changed Asia-Pacific eyewitnesses perspective of Malaysia from numerous points of view; the

most imperative was that rather than pioneer pictures, the arrangement of assessments from the

west changed and Malaysia picked up the picture of a worldwide free enterprise. As the economy

of Malaysia progressed, the Malaysian executive, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad could assert the

difficulties of bridling a Malay business class and accommodating Malay benefits which are

under Article 153 of The Malaysian Constitution. The target of these procurements, as we learnt

in Malaysian Studies, is a thought to bring Malays and the Bumiputras of Sabah and Sarawak to

the same financial and instruction status as alternate races and the procurements includes the

extraordinary reservation of portions for grants, posts in the general population administration,

business and industrial licenses as well as land reserves Something else that makes this book

important to Malaysian Studies is not just on the grounds that it lets us know the Western

profound respect that took put when Mahathir held the post of head administrators, the book

additionally detail us some greatest difficulties that Dr. Mahathir confronted. One of this

difficulties happened by mid-1997 when Malaysia was not able to oppose the surge of worldwide

business strengths and felt the stun of coin and securities exchange breakdown, social

disengagement and political change, reaching a state of perfection in the emergency of Deputy

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's release, trial and sentencing by April 1999.

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As we said some time recently, Mahathir did not just has a decent time when he was

administering, he confronted inward difficulties and one of them was the intricate associations

with Anwar, however as it is connected in the book, the greatest test went ahead his 16-year

standard, when Mahathir was confronting the antagonistic vibe of Western establishments, as

well as the apparition of prominent turmoil, contradicting components inside UMNO and the

rising issue of Anwar himself.

As we said sooner or later as of late, Mahathir did not simply has a conventional time when he

was controlling, he defied internal challenges and one of them was the unpredictable relationship

with Anwar, however as it is joined in the book, the best test proceeded his 16-year standard,

when Mahathir was going up against the opposing vibe of Western foundations, and in addition

the specter of unmistakable turmoil, repudiating segments inside UMNO and the rising issue of

Anwar himself.

The book presents us the genuine picture of a decent pioneer as Mahathir was the point at which

he battled to give a jolt to internal venture, mechanical headway and riches creation testing

Western standards and set Malaysia's accomplishment as a particular result of the 'Asian way'.

The creator highlight how Mahathir utilized a post-pilgrim most widely used language to test

Westerns, and as a characterizing image of that he had conjured the phantom of the record-

softening Petronas twin towers up Kuala Lumpur as a celebratory proclamation of national

accomplishment (maybe even a two-fingered signal to the old pioneer request). From the book

we take in the history and the motivation behind the Petronas towers; as the writer uncovered, for

Mahathir, the towers mirror the feeling of duality with the west: a detachment of characters

standing together in strained nearness, a representation of the consistent meeting and clash of

thoughts.

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John Hilley additionally discusses Mahathir's undertaking of Vision 2020: a millennial image of

development, riches creation and country expanding on an uncommon scale. In trying to

accomplish financial development and NIC (recently industrialized nation) status by that year,

Mahathir has tried to arouse the general population creative ability through thoughts of a

common vision of flourishing. The Visions speaks to the test of monetary advancement, as well

as the very glorification of national-prominent solidarity: an idea caught in the Vision perfect of

Bangsa (one country) Malaysia. For the creator the message inside of the Vision concerns the

arrangement of points postured by the Visions' Nine Challenges confronting all Malaysians, a

contract for the financial advancement, national joining and social group:

The main is the test of building up a united Malaysian country, with a feeling of regular and

shared fate. This must be a country content with itself, regionally and ethnically coordinated,

living in agreement and full and reasonable association, made of one 'Bangsa Malaysia' with

political reliability and commitment to the country.

The second is the test of making a mentally freed, secure and created Malaysian culture with

confidence and trust in itself, legitimately pleased with what it is, of what it is expert.

The third test is the improvement of an experienced equitable society, honing a type of adult

consensual, group situated Malaysian majority rule government that can be a model for some

creating nations.

The fourth is the test of setting up a completely moral and moral society, whose subjects are

solid in religious and pervaded with the most astounding of moral principles.

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The fifth is the test of setting up a full grown, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of

all hues and doctrines are allowed to rehearse and declare their traditions, societies and religious

convictions and feel that they have a place with one country.

The 6th is the test of building up an investigative and dynamic culture, a general public that is

creative and forward-looking, and one that is a customer of innovation as well as a donor to

exploratory and mechanical human advancement without bounds.

The seventh is the test of building up a completely minding society and a minding culture, a

social framework in which society will precede self, in which the welfare of the individuals will

rotate not around the state or the individual but rather around an in number and versatile family

framework.

The eighth is the test of guaranteeing and monetarily just society. This is a general public where

there is a reasonable and fair conveyance of the abundance of the country, in which there is full

organization in monetary advancement.

The ninth is the test of setting up a prosperous society, with an economy that is completely

aggressive, powerful, vigorous and strong.

As a resume, this book is essential for the investigation of Malaysian history in light of the fact

that other than of simply letting us know the political direction of Dr. Mahathir receptacle

Mohamad, it let us see the western perspective about Mahathir and his legislative issues, so we

can differentiate what they judge about him and the truth of Malaysia as a result of his awesome

work. Here and there westerns misconstrue others countries and mainland’s their method for

doing thing and they need to force their state of mind; however give us a chance to say that

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Mahathir directed his politic a route as indicated by the social character of Malaysia and did

extraordinary.

Counter Argument about Mahathirism :

End of Mahathirism?

Toward the starting would we say we are seeing the end of 'Mahathirism'? We can see a parallel

to this syntagmatic thought in the present incident in Malaysian history. The late instance of ex-

agent chief Anwar Ibrahim's interest for pay of RM100 million from the previous head, now

'subject Mahathir', speaks to the typical end of Mahathirism's predominance and the start of the

"burst" in Malaysian governmental issues. We are seeing the end of an age and the start of

deconstructionism.

The letter of interest to the leader of 22 years is an image of the solid winds of progress that keep

on being fuelled by the appearance of Internet innovation, the enlarging of vote based spaces,

and the developing risk to the strength of Pax Barisan Nasionalisma.

We can likewise see the allegory of 'tearing down the divider' in Malaysian political ideological

situation and see the picture of Mahathir as illustration of 'the last man' and the end of 'history as

we have figured out how to be molded by'. One discusses "isms" as procedure arranged

ideological walk established upon the authority of a thought whose time was made to come. We

see it as a "monad" or a 'crossroads ever' or as Antonio Gramsci would say, a 'chronicled square'

that has come to fruition as an outcome of a crystallization and sub-crystallization of a thought

advanced as 'scholarly and good initiative'.

Since Mahathir verbalized well his translation of the Malay Dilemma and on the grounds that the

Malays when all is said in done see it as a report that examined the past, present, and eventual

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fate of the Malays, the author of the banned book accordingly picked up power as PM. Dilema

Melayu/The Malay Dilemma, as investigated by the anthropologist Dr Syed Husin Ali for

instance, was defective in its examination of Malay socio-society and 'hereditary based'

contention on the mediocrity of the Malays.

It got to be prominent in light of the fact that Malay government officials did not read enough to

scrutinize the presentation of the issue and that the time was ready to counter any push to set up a

multi-social political front to occupy the country off the capture of race-based legislative issues.

Like Reaganism, Thatcherism, and different types of "isms" connected with the power of

corporate-capital nexused in a post-Fordist type of corporate-modern political-scholarly

complex, Mahathirism is a belief system.

While numerous may differ with the "embodiment" of a neo-colonialist plan in that term

'Mahathirism', and actually one that may further praise the individual, I see it important to keep

on having it "named" so that one may deconstruct and rename it.

Mahathirism, is an image of the predominance of one individual whose political life-history

rotates around the keeping up of, getting, supporting, combining, and homogenizing aggregate

force through an astute creating of a progression of hegemonic arrangements. It lays on the

theory of 'we versus them' and the dichotomisation of political strengths and on the acts of a

more advanced form of the colonialist separation, overcomes, and guideline technique.

These Machiavellian-plans rest upon a more propelled framework for industrialist development

affectionately called 'the Asian-style vote based system'. It is justifiable then that the present

organization called the country to grasp the idea of Ying Yang in a country that moves the hip

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jump and the chose agents doing the bebop while the adolescents are about-facing to doing the

stone and roll.

Mahathirism is a crossroads in history that profit by the pre-War on Terrorism time of worldwide

financial blast, pre-9/11 accuracy, and one that helped fuel the economy through obtained

monies and acquired ideal models of monetary improvement, and one that gave a limitless ticket

to ride till the year 2020 (Wawasan 2020) to the decision party.

In the now widely acclaimed political-anthropological investigation of 'the apathetic locals', the

colonialists painted the picture of inactivity amongst the Malays, Indonesians and the Filipinos.

In today's examination, the picture of the local is the mechanical and advanced horticultural

laborer changed into sluggish scholars and glad customers through the structurations of the

hypermodern industrialist framework.

In Mahathirism, innovation shapes awareness and changes the social relations of generation,

changing scenes of nature into enormous land undertakings, for example, the Multimedia Super

Corridor - changing the way we live, transport/teleport ourselves, and the example of utilization

and recreation. The individuals who own the method for importing innovation from abroad, with

paid guidance from International Advisory Panels, claim the method for changing awareness and

subsequently will characterize the presence of the locals, through the hyper-present day Asiatic

method of generation.

Tearing down Mahathirism:

Spaces of dialogue are being created, a symbol of the tearing down the walls of Mahathirism.

The deafening call for an inquiry into the award of Approved Permits, the setting up of the

Malaysian Institute of Integrity, the repeated calls to provide the academic community with signs

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and symbols of academic freedom, the boycott of campus elections, and the growing demand of

the economically marginalised to be attended to - all these represent the possible end of

Malaysian history as we know it.

As an intense observer of dictatorship and hegemonic systems that has been created by human, I

am particularly interested in analyzing how these brawls for a multicultural, cosmotheandric, and

‘conscientisation’-ised pattern of struggle continue. I was reminded by the theme

‘Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism’ by Frederic Jameson, an American

Literary Theorist, as I wrote about the separations, the diminishing of affect, the sense of

fragmentation, and the clichés and alternation of the Grand narratives in Malaysian politics in

general, and in the deconstructionism of Mahathirism in particular.

I would suggest that Malaysian social scientists are interested in deconstructionist philosophies

and to study these developments, so that we may construct newer theories of hegemony and

totalitarianism, inspired by and in honor of the work of Syed Hussein Alatas. Let us explore what

the new myth of the lazy natives mean through our analysis of ‘the end of Malaysian history and

the last man’.

CONCLUSION

According to my point of view, it can be concluded that Mahathirism or Mahathir’s Point of

view about human being rights is totally aligned with the theory itself and not to forget the

philosophy of Cultural Relativism. Furthermore, Malaysian unquestionably alleged that

Malaysians cultural tradition and political realities should be distant from the impact of

Universalism and Western Liberalism. In terms of “Asian Values” The Malaysian’s restrictions

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are defended with strongest effects and influences of Malay-Islamic ideals. Which sets them

really further apart from “Universalist Western Liberal Values”, as for the roles they play in

society and social life is how the state has answered to them! Cultural terms includes the

Mahathir’s argument of Asian Values is not a single scheme! In fact it’s a collection of reactions

and related arguments which goes against universalism or the western eccentricity and

Universalism

Moreover, it can be said that its people’s comportment that has to be stimulated not by the

apprehensions of the individual rights but by their obligations and social responsibilities. The

approach made by the thesis of Asian Values is suggested that it is the only through an orderly

society which restrains the extremes of Individualism that every member of the community can

live happy, fulfilled, safe and sound lives! It’s the responsibility of a government that it should

must secure such environment by limiting individual’s freedoms and enforcing a balance

between civilian’s liberties and social stabilities. Well it was obvious that Critics perceptibly

disputed the Mahathir’s purported intention in a restricting human rights! Arguing with his real

purpose was to achieve these issues as a justification for curtailing the opposition and making his

position stronger and powerful!

From a hypothetical point of view, it must be accepted that Mahathirism had not only provided

much of a challenge to win over the Western Political Outlooks. As for this, he faced number of

criticism for example that Mahathirism is just a cover for a philosophical contest of Universalism

and Cultural Relativism. Mahathir’s Typical Asian critics of Westren Values. Therefore

Mahathirism is unchallengeable, a type of Cultural Relativism. As nicely said by Mahathir “…

the norms and precepts for the observance of human rights vary from society to society and from

one period to another within the same society”

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