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Article: Worldbeaters.(Malaysia's prime minister Mohamad Mahathir)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- August 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Taking aim at the rich and powerful
Mahathir Mohamad
There is nothing so pathetic -- and so dangerous -- as a politician past his prime. You know the type. Arrogant megalomaniacs with all the guns on their side, clinging desperately to power. Southeast Asia has had its share of these dinosaurs -- and none have been more tenacious than Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
The 76-year-old 'Dr M', as he prefers to be known, has led the ethnically diverse nation of Malaysia since 1981. The son of an Indian schoolteacher father and a Malay mother, Mahathir was a brilliant student, eventually qualifying as a medical doctor in 1952. He married ...