Mahathir bin Mohamad summary

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Mahathir bin Mohamad , in full Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mohamad, (born Dec. 20, 1925, Alor Setar, Kedah, Malay states), Malaysian politician, prime minister (1981–2003). The son of a schoolmaster, Mahathir studied medicine and worked as a government medical officer before entering parliament in 1964, where he became a forceful advocate of policies to ensure economic success for ethnic Malays. Once prime minister, he was reelected repeatedly; under his leadership Malaysia achieved one of the most prosperous economies in Southeast Asia, rising literacy rates, and increased life expectancies. An economic downturn in the late 1990s precipitated a split between Mahathir and his deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, whom Mahathir dismissed in 1998; opposition to this action and other policies was suppressed. Following the September 11 attacks of 2001 in the U.S., he offered his support in the global war against terrorism, but he opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and was noted for his frequent criticisms of the West.

prime minister Summary

Prime minister, the head of government in a country with a parliamentary or semipresidential political system. In such systems, the prime minister—literally the “first,” or most important, minister—must be able to command a continuous majority in the legislature (usually the lower house in a

government Summary

Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not

Malaysia Summary

Malaysia, country of Southeast Asia, lying just north of the Equator, that is composed of two noncontiguous regions: Peninsular Malaysia (Semenanjung Malaysia), also called West Malaysia (Malaysia Barat), which is on the Malay Peninsula, and East Malaysia (Malaysia Timur), which is on the island of