Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain (fantasy novels to read .TXT) 📕

Dr. Mahathir set his sights on:

...creating a psychologically liberated, secure and developed Malaysian society with faith and confidence in itself, justifiably proud of what it is, of what it has accomplished, robust enough to face all manner of adversity. This Malaysian society must be distinguished by the pursuit of excellence, fully aware of all its potentials, psychologically subservient to none, and respected by the peoples of other nations.[13]

Over the years, Dr. Mahathir reformulated, repackaged and refined his vision, but never wavered in his commitment to it. He relentlessly badgered, berated and browbeat Malaysians, especially the Malays, to shape up and convert his dreams into reality. If necessary, he would crucify opponents, sacrifice allies and tolerate monumental institutional and social abuses to advance his project. Much of what he did, or did not do, could be explained by devotion to this cause.

When Dr. Mahathir became prime minister, Malaysia was growing at a lively clip, with a focus on the export of light industrial products. Foreign companies, responding to a range of incentives, were producing toys, air conditioners and electronic components for sale overseas in free-trade zones and providing jobs for tens of thousands of young women drawn from rural homes. Malaysia's switch to the export-oriented, employment generating industrialization that was to characterize East Asia's dynamic economies had taken place in the late 1960s. It was a step towards recognizing that without structural change, the patterns established by colonialism would persist and fail to deliver the dividends most Malaysians expected from independence.

Producing greater quantities of tin and rubber than anywhere else, Malaya had been Britain's most profitable colony, integrated into the world economy through the trade in both commodities. While the British left Malaya with one of the highest living standards in Asia, much of the economy was in foreign hands. The small local business community was mostly Chinese. And the main ethnic groups lived separately, the Chinese around the urban tin mines and the Indians on semi-rural rubber plantations, leaving the peasant Malays to their traditional farming and fishing in more remote areas. Conscious that tin deposits were running out while rubber products might be replaced by synthetics, and also trying to guard against commodity price fluctuations, Malaysia pursued crop diversification. Cocoa and pepper were added, and the country became the world's biggest producer and exporter of palm oil. The production of oil and the discovery of natural gas significantly boosted exports from the second half of the 1970s.

The neglect of Malay interests contributed to the "May 13" riots in 1969 and resulted in the redistributive NEP, which required the government to abandon the hands-off approach followed since colonial times and intervene deeply in the economy. In practice, the government gave priority to restructuring to end the identification of race with economic function, ahead of the other main objective, eliminating poverty. The basic focus was on raising bumiputra corporate ownership from 2.4 per cent in 1970 to 30 per cent in 1990. Other Malaysians would be allowed to own 40 per cent, while the foreign stake would be reduced to 30 per cent. A 30 per cent quota became the minimum bumiputra requirement for many things, including company ownership, government contracts, public share listings, employment and new private housing plans.

As individual bumiputras lacked capital and expertise, the government established state-owned enterprises to enter business on their behalf. All 13 states set up development corporations, which registered companies that were given bumiputra status and fed with resources, such as timber and minerals. The central government also established corporations to hold in trust the shares issued to bumiputras when a company expanded or initially listed. To distribute the shares to individual bumiputras, the government formed the National Equity Corporation, which also bought shares and took over blue-chip companies on the open market and channeled its portfolio into unit trusts. The number of state-owned enterprises in Malaysia rose dramatically, from 54 in 1965, to 656 in 1980 and 1,010 in 1985. Overall, they performed poorly, losing RM6.8 billion in 1984.[14]

Dr. Mahathir brought strong and idiosyncratic ideas to the economy. "We run development as if we are executing a war," he said,[15] a comment that recalled former premier Razak's "operations room" for rural development a couple of decades earlier. Long before he read an economics textbook, Dr. Mahathir believed governments should spend generously, not just Keynesian-style with borrowed money in economic downturns, but at all times. "I had this crazy idea" that if the government outlays money, "it stimulates the economy...usually it generates a lot of economic activity, and people make money, and of course they have to pay taxes, so the government gets back its money".[16] Conversely, "if you don't spend money, then the country will not grow".[17] It went back to what a teacher had told him in primary school, that when the Malayan government built the railway line from Penang to Padang Besar on the border with Thailand, settlements sprang up along the tracks.[18] Although he was personally frugal, Dr. Mahathir spent freely and Malaysia's economy grew fast along the lines he decreed, unhindered by such concepts as cost-benefit analysis and seemingly unconcerned about a future without oil and gas.

With a poor opinion of the civil service and determined not to be hamstrung by resistance, red tape and incompetence, Dr. Mahathir devised alternative ways to speed up decision making and build momentum for his initiatives. As he centralized authority within the executive branch, he increasingly bypassed the bureaucracy in favour of special planning bodies answerable to him, as well as independent state agencies and corporations.[19] The Prime Minister's Department was more influential than any of the regular ministries, containing national oil and gas company Petronas and the Economic Planning Unit, as well as the politically powerful Attorney General Chambers, Anti-Corruption Agency, Public Service Commission, Election Commission and others.

Dr. Mahathir's partner on the economy for much of the time was lawyer-turned-businessman Daim Zainuddin. Serving twice as finance minister, from 1984