1.

INTRODUCTION For the purpose of this individual assignment, I have chosen Tun Dr. Mahathir

Mohamad. Most of the information obtained for the interview was via his personal blog, www.chedet.com and also Tun Mahathirs Facebook. It was such a tedious task for me because my interview report is on Tun Dr. Mahathir, a prominent public figure or person who has contributed to the community and also to the country. My only way to get an interview is to write into his blog and facebook. I drafted the questions and uploaded them into his blog and facebook. I was lucky that Tun Mahathir responded to my interview questions. Besides using the information from the responses, I have also done some reading on Tun Dr. Mahathir to add some information that was being given to me. Even after his resignation as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, his opinions and views are well accepted and taken into account by the public. In his twenty-two years as Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad transformed his country from an agricultural backwater into an industrial powerhouse that would become the seventeenth-largest trading nation in the world. This remarkable achievement was not without controversy, and Dr Mahathirs extraordinary vision and iron grip earned him both enemies as well as ardent admirers within and outside of Malaysia. He has been describedtypically and paradoxicallyas a tyrannical dictator, a bte noir, as well as inspiring, courageous and an outspoken defender of the downtrodden, the Third World, and moderate Islam. At almost every turn Dr Mahathir rewrote the rules. This book reveals hitherto unknown aspects of this intensely private, but publicly bold, statesman. It provides a clear and compelling narrative of modern Malaysian political history as seen through the eyes of one its greatest shapers. It is neither apology nor defence, but a forceful, compelling and often exciting account of how Dr Mahathir achieved what he did in so short a time, and why.

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TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD BIOGRAPHY

TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD(1981 2003)

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was born on 20 December 1925 in Alor Setar, the capital of the State of Kedah. Tun Dr. Mahathir did his early and secondary education in his home town. In 1947, he gained admission into the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. Upon graduation, he joined the Malaysian government service as a Medical Officer. He left in 1957 to set up his own practice in Alor Setar. Tun Dr. Mahathir has been active in politics since 1945. He has been a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) since its inception in 1946. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament following the General Elections in 1964. However, he lost his seat in the subsequent General Election in 1969. Owing to his keen interest in the country's education, he was appointed Chairman of the first Higher Education Council in 1968, Member of the Higher Education Advisory Council in 1972, Member of the University Court and University of Malaya Council, and Chairman of the National University Council in 1974. In 1973, Tun Dr. Mahathir was appointed a Senator. He relinquished this post in order to contest in the 1974 General Elections where he was returned unopposed. Following the elections, Tun Dr. Mahathir was appointed the Minister of Education. In 1976, Tun Dr. Mahathir was made Deputy Prime Minister in addition to his Education portfolio. In a Cabinet reshuffle two years later, he relinquished the Education portfolio for that of Trade and Industry. As Minister of Trade and Industry, he led several

investment promotion missions overseas. Tun Dr. Mahathir was elected as one of the three Vice Presidents of UMNO in 1975. In 1978, he won the Deputy President seat and in 1981, he was appointed President of the party. He was returned unopposed as President in 1984. In the 1987 party elections, Tun Dr. Mahathir defeated his challenger to retain the Presidency and in 1990 and 1993, he was again returned unopposed as party President. Under his leadership, the ruling party Barisan Nasional (National Front) won landslide victories in the 1982, 1986, 1990, 1995 and 1999 General Elections. Tun Dr. Mahathir is married to a doctor, Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah bt Mohd Ali, and they have seven children Marina, Mirzan, Melinda, Mokhzani, Mukhriz, Maizura and Mazhar. Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad became the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia on 16 July 1981 and stepped down as Prime Minister on October 31st 2003.

2.1

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TUN DR. MAHATHIR There are seven questions asked during the interview: a. What are your contribution to Malaysian economy? b. What do you think of Malaysias Education System? c. What was the most frightening moment in your life? d. What do you like to do? e. When did you start to have passion in writing? f. What is your latest book now? g. Can you tell me, what is your book all about? The questions are answered below and it is in the form of a report format. Some of the questions are merged into one sub-heading according to the needs and suitability of the contents.

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TUN MAHATHIRS CONTRIBUTION TO MALAYSIA Many of Malaysia's economic policies starting from the time of Mahathir Mohamad's

premiership have a striking resemblance to those of Singapore's. During his term in office, Mahathir turned Malaysia into a regional high-tech manufacturing, financial, and telecommunications hub through his economic policies based on corporate nationalism, known as the various "Malaysia Plans" which set out the government middle-term objectives. These policies with strong Keynesian tendency remained in effect almost to the end of his tenure in office. His pet projects have included Perwaja Steel, an attempt to emulate South Korea and Japan, the Proton car company, and Astro, a satellite television service. Mahathir is credited with spearheading the phenomenal growth of the Malaysian economy, now one of the largest in South East Asia. Growth between 1988 and 1997 averaged over ten percent and living standards rose twentyfold, with poverty relatively almost eradicated and social indicators such as literacy levels and infant mortality rates becoming almost on par with developed countries. During this period, Mahathir embarked on various large scale national projects, such as:

the North-South Expressway, which has cut travel time on roads on the west coast of Malaysia the Multimedia Super Corridor, a flagship project based on Silicon Valley designed to enable Malaysia's foray into information technology (it includes Malaysia's new administrative capital Putrajaya)

Port of Tanjung Pelepas Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, and the adjacent Sepang Formula One circuit the Bakun Dam, meant to supply all of the electricity needs of the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and which has enough capacity to enable exportation of power to Brunei; the project has since run into various difficulties and controversies, leading to at first, its cancellation and then its revival as a greatly scaled down project.

Olympic-class stadium in Bukit Jalil the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world, and the world's tallest building from 1997 to 2003, that have become a symbol of modern Malaysia

While such projects have their benefits, corresponding high costs have made some Malaysians reluctant to engage in more of such ventures, believing that the money can be better spent on other areas of development. On the other hand, Mahathir has always argued that such projects yield a direct return to the economy, apart from just serving the national pride, as government spendings in turn create jobs along with other multiplier effects. 4.0 TUN MAHATHIRS OPINION OF THE MALAYSIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM In 1975 Mahathir was appointed Minister of Education. He had always believed in the need for "education for the masses", with greater emphasis on maths and science, at high school level, in order to achieve his dream of a developed Malaysia. He continued to strongly promote his agenda of quantity-and-quality higher education during his term as prime minister. In those days, English, Chinese and Tamil-medium schools were fully run by private and missionary organizations. Students from these school sat for the respective overseas examinations set by the board of school committees and associations. For instance, Overseas Cambridge School Certificate (OSC) was set for English schools. Under the former Prime Minister's order, he drafted the KBSM syllabus in order to make Malay a compulsory subject to be taught in all subjects in these schools. Overseas examinations were subsequently abolished one after another throughout the years. Schools which converted to the national type received heavy fundings from the government. Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP) were fully introduced as national examinations. In order to cater for the lower income indigenous population, boarding schools were promoted and constructed. Through government scholarships, tens of thousands of students were sent yearly to universities in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, western-type countries that Mahathir aspired to achieve par development with. Middle- and higher-income groups from non-Bumiputera Malaysians who were unable to get a place in the local universities, due to the restrictive quota system and limited government scholarships, also independently sent their children to these universities. This has led Malaysia to have the third largest number of students going to western-type countries to pursue higher education, after China and India. Most of the Chinese students going overseas were self-sponsored by their parents. Till today, education is a major source of Malaysia's expenditure, something that the current administration is trying to remedy. After years of sending students abroad, Malaysian post-graduate and industrial research and development has still not shown any notable progress. In 1980, education quota was introduced as part of the National Economic Policy. Mahathir who became the acting

prime minister, introduced the quota system to all economic sectors in Malaysia including the education system, whereby a designated percentage of undergraduate seats of higher institutions were reserved for Bumiputra (natives) citizens. This has led to a large number of highly competitive non-bumiputra applicants being unable to secure admission to institutions of higher learning. These applicants resort to the neighbouring or foreign countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and the western countries mentioned above. Towards his later years, Mahathir promoted the liberalization of university start-ups, leading to branch campuses being built or the formation of permanent tie-ups with some of the most prestigious universities in the world. Amongst others, these led to the construction of the University of Nottingham in Malaysia (in partnership with the University of Nottingham, U.K.), Malaysia University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.), in partnership with M.I.T. (U.S.) and Motorola) , Monash University Malaysia (in partnership with Monash University, Australia) and Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Campus (in partnership with Curtin University of Technology, Australia) Private companies with a long running history in Malaysia like Intel and AMD were also encouraged to set up, and run partnerships and/or higher education centres and centres of excellence. In 2003 after more than 20 years in post, he commented that non-bumiputra students excel far ahead of bumiputra students in academic qualifications. He soon introduced meritocracy by gradually lowering down the quota percentage reserved each year for the intake of bumiputra applicants in higher institutions to encourage fair competitions. Despite the quota system was stripped, the government has been criticized for adopting double standards among bumiputras and other races. In pre-university level, bumiputras are mostly streamed into matriculation while nonbumiputras are taken into Form Six. Although it is widely recognized that Form Six is far more comprehensive and demanding than its counterpart, the government treats both equally and admission into government universities depend on students' performances. In spite of the government's provocation that students are free to choose either of the courses, this is rarely done and the majority of students sorted into matriculation and Form Six according to race. In the year before his retirement, he announced that Mathematics and Science subjects must be taught in English in all primary and secondary schools with aim to increase competitiveness of Malaysian students. As a result of this rapid transition, the new school textbooks contain numerous typographical errors, and school teachers who are not fluent in English suffer difficulties in their teachings. This also subsequently caused some resentment among the Chinese education community and the hard-line Malays.

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MOST FRIGHTENING MOMENT IN HIS LIFE Tun Mahathir has a history of heart attack. He had a coronary artery bypass in 1989.

On November 9 2006, he was admitted into Institut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute) in Kuala Lumpur after suffering a mild heart attack that was caused by a clot in his arteries and has since recovered. On 14 May 2007, Mahathir was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Langkawi after suffering from breathing difficulties at 1600 (MST). The former premier's condition was reported to be stable. Mohamad, 82, underwent a second heart bypass on September 4, 2007 in a specialist cardiac hospital in Kuala Lumpur Sunday. He is recovering in the intensive care unit and was already conscious (in the Kuala Lumpur Institut Jantung Negara where he was operated by a team of surgeons, including a U.S. specialist). On September 23, 2007, Mahathir Mohamad, underwent further surgery (Kuala Lumpur's National Heart Institute) due to an infection of the surgical wound in his chest. He is currently on a respirator in the ICU. 5.0 TUN MAHATHIRS PASSION IN WRITING AND HIS HOBBIES Writing is one of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's passions. He started writing while in school. In the 1940s and '50s, under the pen name "Che Det", he actively wrote articles on Malay politics and economic issues, which were published in The Sunday Times. He continued writing throughout his career, and one of his most famous treatises, The Malay Dilemma (1970), influenced policy and policy makers in the aftermath of the 1969 racial riots. Tun Mahathir has rather various hobbies. He loves horse riding, car and motor racing. Particularly, he was amongst the first to have the idea of arranging "Formula-1" in Malaysia. He reads a lot and writes books; he is keen on wood cutting. Tun Dr. Mahathir is also an avid horse rider and enjoys reading fiction. "I read a lot of novels, stories written by well-known authors like Wilbur Smith and Ken Follet. It's a way of avoiding heavy books".

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TUN MAHATHIRS LIFE AFTER HIS RESIGNATION AS PRIME

MINISTER AND HIS AWARDS OF RECOGNITION

At present Mahathir continues to take an active life position regularly participating in different local and international forums on important modern issues, meets with former and current politicians of the global level. As recognition of contribution into the establishment and development of modern Malaysia, in 2003 Mahathir Mohamad received the highest honorable title - "Tun". This title is awarded only to a limited number of people, which must not exceed 25 at the same time. Mahathir was also awarded with the governmental medal "Father of Modern Malaysia", "Prominent Surgeon of Malaysia", the Gold Medal for the contribution into development of the economy and technologies, Order of Friendship (the Russian Federation). He has the title of the honorable professor of the National State University of Kyrgyzstan, Honorable Citizen of Turkmenistan etc. He is the author of many publications - articles, books and speeches. The most popular are "The Role of Islam in the Modern World", "Globalization and New Realities", and "Challenge".

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TUN MAHATHIRS LATEST BOOK A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE

The book, A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad takes readers on a journey known to very few outside Tun Dr Mahathirs immediate family: from his earliest memories of childhood; through the most important events in the history of Malayas struggle through the sunset of British colonialism, World War, and Independence; to his life as a doctor; his constant struggles as a politician to improve the lot of his fellow citizen; his single-minded pursuit of his countrys goals; his greatest fears; and his most cherished hopes. Tun Mahathir mentioned that the book itself is the story of Malaysia as he sees it and it is also his story. He has written about the wisdom of the founding fathers who crafted a political system that has enabled the country to democratically and peacefully resolve the problems and challenges inherent in a complex society. He mentioned that Malaysia may not be styled after the liberal democracies of the West, but it is led by governments elected by the people at the central and state levels. Not many former colonies have been able to make democracy work. He believes that Malaysian have done it. In Malaysia, Opposition candidates can win, and be successful enough to gain control of state governments, if not the central government. Although the Alliance Party and its successor, the Barisan Nasional,

have won all the national elections since Independence, there have been exhilarating highs and worrying lows. As he wrote the book, the coalition remains vulnerable, having lost five states to the Opposition at the 2008 General Election. To regain its robustness, Barisan Nasional must make an honest assessment of its virtues and its failings, and must be prepared to take radical measures if it is to be a relevant and effective leader of Malaysia in the new millennium. 8.0 CONCLUSION Tun Mahathir was featured on the facade of Telekom Tower in Kuala Lumpur during the national day celebrations in 2004. For his efforts to promote the economic development of the country, Tun Mahathir has been granted the soubriquet of Bapa Pemodenan (Father of Modernisation). Since his resignation, there are signs that his influence is on the wane, notably the cancellation of a Mahathir-approved double tracking rail project on grounds of cost. Mahathir's official residence, Sri Perdana, where he resided from 23 August 1983 to 18 October 1999, was turned into a museum (Galeria Sri Perdana). In keeping with the principle of heritage conservation, the original design and layout of the Sri Perdana has been preserved. With this report, I hope that I have written a comprehensive interview report for the assignment despite the hurdles and obstacles that I have gone through to get the information on our beloved Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who has contributed to the community and also to the country.