MALAYSIAN STUDIES

(MPW 2133)
Semester May 2015

Book Review: Mahathir bin

Mohammad as National
Equivocator
Book Name : Malay Dilemma
Author Name: Mahathir Bin Mohammad
Review By: Muhammad Jaffer
Hashmani
ID: 22223
Program: Petroleum Engineering

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 UTPs 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
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
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 Malaysias
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 peoples perspective about him. This magnificent country became a
Modern Industrial Nation from an under developed country! This evolution was experienced
when it was Dr. Mahathirs 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
Malaysias 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
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 planThe Way Forward, or Vision 2020asserting that the country would be a fully
developed nation by 2020. He helped shift the countrys economic base away from agriculture
and natural resources and toward manufacturing and exporting, and the countrys per capita
income doubled from 1990 to 1996. Although Malaysias growth has slowed and its 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.
Mahathirs 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 Malaysias political
landscape. He is an ardent critic of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whom he chose to succeed
him.
According to R.S. Milne and Diane K. Mauzy (1999: 168), Mahathirism is not a guide to
Mahathirs thoughts or actions. Rather, Mahathirs 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 Malaysians 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. Its a completely different matter to
enforce such rights! In short, these three meanings, Idea of Universalism was argued by Donolly
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, universallyHuman 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
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
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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

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
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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.
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

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Westerns, and as a characterizing image of that he had conjured the phantom of the recordsoftening 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.
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.

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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.
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.

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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 mainlands their method for
doing thing and they need to force their state of mind; however give us a chance to say that
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 exagent 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.

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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
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.

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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
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
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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
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 clichs 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

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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 Mahathirs 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 Malaysians restrictions 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 Mahathirs argument of Asian
Values is not a single scheme! In fact its a collection of reactions and related arguments which
goes against universalism or the western eccentricity and Universalism
Moreover, it can be said that its peoples 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! Its the responsibility of a government that it should
must secure such environment by limiting individuals freedoms and enforcing a balance
between civilians liberties and social stabilities. Well it was obvious that Critics perceptibly
disputed the Mahathirs purported intention in a restricting human rights! Arguing with his real

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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. Mahathirs 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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