Was Dr Mahathir A Politician Or A Doctor First?

BANGKOK, July 19 (Bernama) -- Was former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad a politician or a medical doctor first?
Contrary to common belief that he joined politics after practising medicine, Dr Mahathir said he was first a politician and then obtained his medical degree to gain credential in pursuing his political career.
Dr Mahathir, who served for 22 years from 1981 as the fourth prime minister of Malaysia until he stepped down in 2003, mentioned this when he was being interviewed during "A Power Dialogue" here last night.
He was interviewed by Abdul Halim Ismail, who is also the Asean secretary-general widely known as Dr Surin Pitsuwan.
Dr Surin, a Muslim who hails from Nakhon Si Thammarat in the middle south of Thailand and was attired in a dark suit and a white skull cap in a rare public appearance, posed the question during a dialogue between them at a gala dinner in celebration of the 72nd anniversary of "Pondok Bantan" (the local Islamic religious school).
Dr Surin, a former Thai foreign minister, became the Asean chief in 2008. His term will expire by the end of this year.
Proud to declare himself "a Pondok student," Dr Surin holds a Master's degree and a PhD in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University.
Asked where would Malaysia be now without the Vision 2020 he introduced to make the country a developed nation, Dr Mahathir said the country would still progress but probably without any focus as the vision determined its direction and plans.
Touching on the formation of the Asean Community by 2015, Dr Mahathir said the regional group must avoid the mistakes made by the European Union.
"The European Union is in trouble today because it can't work for the benefit of all members as it focuses on the rich members only. Asean must make sure the poor countries would benefit from the community too," he said.
Asean, he said, must avoid the mistake of introducing a common currency which, he added, benefits the rich countries only but makes the cost of living in the poor countries to rise dramatically.
As for globalisation, he said, Asean must look into the interest of the poor countries too as they would not benefit from a freer market.
"The globalisation comes from rich countries and we must not adopt it 100 per cent. We must examine ourselves. We don't want the rich to become richer and the poor, poorer."
Answering a question from the floor, Dr Mahathir said Asean needs to ask fellow member Myanmar to stop what he said was oppression against the Rohingya ethnic minority.

Learn From The East, Mahathir Tells Islamic Nations

BANGKOK, July 19 (Bernama) -- Islamic nations must learn from the countries of the East if they wish to overcome the challenges of modernity and globalisation, said former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said many countries of the East have mastered the knowledge and skills of industrialisation so that they are able to compete with the West and to grow their countries into rich economies and powerful nations.
"Such is their strength that they are able to ward off Western hegemony and overcome the challenges of modernity and the threats posed by globalisation," he said.
Speaking at a gala dinner in celebration of the 72nd anniversary of the "Pondok Bantan" (local Islamic religious school), here, last night, he said the first need was to acquire and upgrade their knowledge of sciences because modern technologies were based on science and mathematics.
"We must also acquire skills in modern administration and governance as well as knowledge of the workings of the modern economy and its management," he said.
Dr Mahathir said all these would take time but countries like South Korea have been able to accelerate the process.
"While we have to be patient, we must find out how (South) Korea has transformed from a backward country into an industrial giant," he said.
Touching on Malaysia's desire to become a developed nation by 2020, he said the country needed good government in realising its dream.
"In the democratic system, when a government fails to deliver it can be overthrown in the next election. No uprising by the people, no violence would be needed.
"Good government requires good leaders, particularly the man at the very top. He should be someone who loves the country and the people more than himself. Such a person would be less likely to abuse his power or succumb to corruption," he said.
Dr Mahathir said Muslims must continually upgrade their capacity to overcome the challenges of modernity and globalisation so as not to lose again as they did in the 15th century.
He said the struggle to overcome the challenges of modernity and globalisation was endless.
He said the Muslim civilisation once dominated the world but about the 15th century, the situation changed when Muslims decided to forsake the acquisition of knowledge other than what they considered to be concerning their religion.
He said that at that time the sciences, including Alchemy or chemistry and mathematics, were considered to be non-religious and which gave no merit for the afterlife.
At that very time, he said, the Europeans, impressed by the greatness of the Muslim civilisation, decided to acquire the scientific and mathematical knowledge of the Muslims.
Dr Mahathir said they studied Arabic in order to do this and it was the challenge of modernity of that time that they had to face and overcome, and they overcame.
"Not only did the Europeans reconquer land lost to the Muslims, they went on to conquer most of the Islamic countries. By the end of the 19th century, almost all Islamic countries were under European rule," he said.
The gap between the Muslim civilisation and the European civilisation widened and, even after the Muslims regained their lost land, they were constantly being defeated by the new ideas, ideologies and strategies developed by the Europeans to perpetuate their dominance.
He said the changes that they initiated and carried out became the standard for the whole world and these changes represented modernity which Muslims were forced to accept or be left behind.
"The Muslims were literally left breathless as one change followed another. No sooner do Muslim countries adjust and adopt the new ideas and ideologies when another idea is conceived, promoted and forced upon the world by the Europeans," he said.
In the financial market, he said, Islamic countries had fortunately avoided going for easy profits but there would be new ideas coming out of the West for making easy money.
"The challenge is to recognise them and to decide when to seize the opportunities created by them and when to reject them," he said.

tunku : no doubt this great statesman is born as a brilliant politician. so he was always a politician first before other things.