Mahathir bin Mohamad [key], 1925–, Malaysian political leader. A doctor by training, he first entered parliament in 1964 and rose in the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), but lost his seat and was expelled from UMNO in 1969 after criticizing Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. Subsequently readmitted into UMNO, he was reelected to parliament in 1974 and held several ministerial posts in the 1970s, including deputy prime minister beginning in 1976. Prime minister of the UMNO-led National Front coalition government after 1981, Mahathir sought to make Malaysia an industrial nation and develop Malay businesses, and promoted nonindividualistic “Asian values” while often denouncing the West. Although Malaysia made enormous and rapid economic progress under Mahathir, political stability was maintained by not tolerating dissent and restricting political freedoms, and his government was denounced for human-rights abuses. He retired as prime minister in 2003 and was succeeded by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Out of office he continued to be outspoken and has been critical of the Malaysian government. In 2008–9 he resigned from the UMNO in protest against his successor's leadership, and he resigned again in 2016 in protest against the party's support for Najib Razak. He became the leader of the Malaysian United Indigenous party (BERSATU), and in the 2018 elections led the opposition Coalition of Hope to a majority and became prime minister. Tensions within the coalition led to its collapse in early 2020, and Mahathir resigned as prime minister. After Muhyiddin Yassin succeeded him as BERSATU's leader and prime minister, Mahathir, who denounced the move, was expelled from the party. Mahathir then founded the Fighters of the Nation party (Pejuang).
See his memoir, A Doctor in the House (2011); biography by B. Wain (2010); study by I. Stewart (2003).
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