Tun Dr Mahathir

This is a Malay name; the name â€Å"Mohamad† is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, â€Å"Mahathir†. Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Mahathir bin Mohamad Tun Mahathir bin Mohamad (pronounced [ma? hatir bin mo? hamat? ]; born July 10, 1925) is a retired Malaysian political figure. He was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest-serving Prime Minister, and one of the longest-serving leaders in Asia. [1] During his term in office, he was credited for engineering Malaysia's rapid modernisation. 2] Mahathir is also known for his criticisms towards western and developed countries. [3] During his administration, he was considered to be one of Asia's most influential leaders. [4] Mahathir is also noted in the Western world as an outspoken critic of Western-style globalization. [5] Mahathir was born in Alor Setar, Kedah,[6] the youngest of nine children[7] of a schoolteacher and a housewife. His father, Mohamad Iskandar, was of Indian origin, being the son of a Malayalee Muslim (who migrated from Kerala) and a Malay mother, while Mahathir's own mother, Wan Tampawan, was Malay. 8] During World War II, he sold pisang goreng (banana fritters) and other snacks to supplement his family income during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Mahathir attended a Malay vernacular school before continuing his education at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Star. Mahathir then attended the King Edward VII Medical College (the predecessor of present-day National University of Singapore) in Singapore, where he edited a medical student magazine called The Cauldron; he also contributed to the The Straits Times newspaper pseudonymously under the nickname â€Å"Che Det†. Mahathir was also President of the Muslim Society in the college. [9] Upon graduation in 1953, Mahathir joined the then Malayan government service as a medical officer. He married Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali—a fellow doctor and former classmate in college—on 5 August 1956, and left government service in 1957 to set up his own private practice in Alor Star. Mahathir thrived in private practice, and allowed him to own by 1959 a Pontiac Catalina and employ an ethnic Chinese chauffeur (at the time, almost all chauffeurs in Malaysia were Malays, owing to the economic dominance of the ethnic Chinese). 10] Some critics have suggested this foreshadowed a later hallmark of Mahathir's politics, which focused on the â€Å"cultivation of such emblems of power†. [11] From his marriage with Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah binti Haji Mohamad Ali, they have seven children,[12] four sons and three daughters: Marina Mahathir, Mirzan Mahathir, Melinda Mahathir, Mokhzani Mahathir, Mukhriz Mahathir, Ma izura Mahathir and Mazhar Mahathir. [13] Both Mukhriz and Mokhzani [14] are involved in business as well as in politics while their eldest daughter Marina is a prominent local writer and AIDS activist. [15]