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Mahathir Mohamed A strategic thinker of great significanceDina Mostafa Passant Ahmed

Mai Maher Sarah Kamal

Prepared by There is a need for us to believe in ourselves, to believe we can do things that others can do, sometimes we can do things better than others can do them

Once we have the belief that we are in no way inferior, that within us there is that capacity to come up with new ideas, then those ideas will actually surface

We have to dig out the creativity and allow it to come to the surface and we need good teachers to identify our creativity

.. Mahathir Mohamed 2Being the longest serving prime minister in Malaysia and Asia as well, Mahathir Mohamed played a pivotal role in engineering Malaysias rapid modernization and its Look East policy.He is also well known for his strong criticisms and is an outspoken critic of western civilization and those who viewed Islam as being a religion that promotes violence.Dr Mahathir also saw that Malaysians need to be creative to progress in information technology to push the country towards the next level of the communication and information age.Thus, based on that pattern of thought, he has played a pivotal role in transforming Malaysia into a country that is more industrialized and modernized.

Mahathir Mohamed: the strategic thinkerAs Prime Minister, he was an advocate of third-world development and a prominent international activist for causes such as the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the interests of Bosnians in the 1990s Balkans conflict.

Mahathir wrote his first book, The Malay Dilemma, in which he set out his vision for the Malay community. The book argued that a balance had to be achieved through providing enough government support for Malays so that their economic interests would not be dominated by the Chinese, while simultaneously exposing them to sufficient competition to ensure that over time, they would lose what Mahathir saw as the characteristics of avoiding hard work and failing to appreciate the real value of money and property.

Mahathir Mohamed: the strategic thinker(contd)Dr Mahathir saw that the worlds economy was moving from an industrial age into the communications and information age and that required new and innovative thinking, new applications that involve more information and more knowledge.Thus, during his tenure as prime minister, he focused on pulling in and attracting high-tech manufacturing, financial and telecommunication projects as well as introducing highways to facilitate transportation and made sure that, even the remote areas are accessible by roads. Mahathir had also a pivotal role concerning the coming up of the Malaysia Design Technology Centre which acts as a business catalyst in developing Malaysian brands that sell around the world.

Mahathirs Economic AchievementsUnder the new economic policy, which he had inherited from his predecessors, Mahathir pursued privatization on a large scale (airlines, utilities and telecommunication firms), which generally improved the working conditions of Malaysians in privatized industries and raised significant revenue for the government.

The New Economic Policys objective was mainly to improve the economic position of Malaysia's Malays and indigenous peoples through target projects and affirmative action in areas such as corporate ownership and university admission. Mahathirs Economic Achievements (The NEP )After the expiry of the Malaysian New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1990, Mahathir Mohamed summed up his aspirations for Malaysia through announcing Vision 2020, under which Malaysia would aim to become a fully developed country within 30 years.

The main emphasis of the Vision was economic. To realize the Visions objectives, an annual growth rate of 7% is required, which meant that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had to be doubled every 10 years.

Vision 2020 was accompanied by the NEP's replacement, the National Development Policy (NDP), under which some government programs were designed to benefit the whole Malaysian society.

Malaysias 2020s Vision

7The NDP achieved success in a very important aim, poverty reduction. By 1995, less than 9% of Malaysians lived in poverty and income inequality had narrowed as well.

Mahathir's government also, cut corporate taxes and liberalized financial regulations to attract foreign investment under Vision 2020.

The economy grew by over 9% per annum until 1997 prompting other developing countries to try to emulate Mahathir's policies.

During his rein, Mahathir embarked on many infrastructure projects that contributed a lot to the Malaysian economy. Malaysias 2020s Vision (Contd)The North-South Highway, which has cut transport times in half on the west coast of Malaysia.The Multimedia Super Corridor, a significant project based on Silicon Valley designed to enable Malaysias venture into Information Technology. Port of Tanjung Pelepas.The impressive Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, and an adjacent Formula One circuit. The development of Putrajaya as the home of Malaysia's public service where the seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur due to the overcrowding and congestion there.

National projects conducted based on Mahathir's strategic vision for MalaysiaThe 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.Olympic-class stadium in Bukit Jalil. The PETRONAS Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world, and the worlds tallest building from 1997 to 2003, that have become symbolic of modern Malaysia.Mahathir also oversaw the establishment of the car manufacturer Proton as a joint venture between the Malaysian government and Mitsubishi. By the end of the 1980s, Proton had overcome poor demand and losses to become, with the support of protective tariffs, the largest car maker in Southeast Asia and a profitable enterprise. National projects conducted based on Mahathir's strategic vision for Malaysia (contd)

Now Malaysia has a fleet of cars of various makesThe financial crisis threatened to devastate Malaysia: The value of the ringgit depreciated due to currency speculation. Foreign investment fled.The main stock exchange index fell by over 75%. At the urging of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government cut government spending and raised interest rates, which only served to exacerbate the economic situation. Mahathirs strategic thinking through the Asian crisis 12In 1998, Mahathir reversed this policy course in defiance of the IMF.Mahathir decided to peg the ringgit to the USD at an exchange rate of RM3.8 for a US dollar and implement capital controls. The main aim of these policies was to limit capital outflow from the country. Mahathir also increased government spending.The result confounded his international critics and the IMF, as Malaysia recovered from the crisis faster than its Southeast Asian neighbors. Mahathir was praised for realizing the flaws in the IMF prescribed policies of cutting government expenditures during recessions.Mahathirs strategic thinking through the Asian crisis (contd)How did Mahathir deal with the crisis ?13Mahathir recognized the need for enhancing creativity and innovation within the Malaysian society in order to achieve the development goals.So he established the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC):The MSC is a government designated zone, designed to leapfrog Malaysia into the information and knowledge age.This corridor houses core MSC initiatives (also called Flagship Applications), which include high-technology projects such as e-Government, Telemedicine, Smart School, Multipurpose Smart Card System, Research and Development Cluster, e-Business and Technopreneur Development.By the year 2020, the MSC will be extended to the whole country, transforming Malaysia to a knowledge-based economy and society, as envisaged in Vision 2020.

The Progress in Information TechnologyUnder Mahathirs rein, the Malaysian education system underwent various changes based on his conviction that no progress can be achieved without the presence of an effective education system and efficient teachers, these changes included the following:Decentralization of the education system to ensure the smooth running of schools and the placement of students and teachers in schools within the district.The education system introduced a few new subjects moral education for non-Muslim students, Islamic studies for Muslim students and living skills for the lower secondary students.

Mahathirs contribution to education A rise in the number of private institutions as, under the 1995 Education Act, private universities were no longer barred from the country. Examples include: Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Multimedia University and foreign universities like University of Nottingham in Malaysia, Malaysia University of Science Technology, Monash University and Curtin University of Technology, Australia.Thus, the number of private universities rose from 0 in 1995 to 16 in 2001, whereas the number of private colleges increased rapidly from a mere 156 in 1992 to 690 in 2001. This created more options for the non-Malays to pursue their studies locally

Mahathirs contribution to education (contd)