hathir bin Mohamad, SMN DK (Jawi:‫ ;محضير بن محمد‬IPA: [maˈhaðɪr bɪn

moˈhamad]; born 10 July 1925)[1] is a Malaysian politician who was the

fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, making him longest-serving
holder of that office. His political career has spanned more than 70 years since
he first joined a newly formedUMNO in 1946.

Born and raised in Alor Setar, Kedah, Mahathir excelled at school and became a
medical doctor. He became active in the United Malays National
Organisation (UMNO), Malaysia's largest political party, before entering
Parliament in 1964. He served one term before losing his seat, subsequently
falling out with Prime Minister[2] Tunku Abdul Rahman and being expelled from
UMNO. When Abdul Rahman resigned, Mahathir re-entered UMNO and
Parliament, and was promoted to the Cabinet. By 1976 he had risen to Deputy
Prime Minister, and in 1981 was sworn in as Prime Minister after the resignation
of his predecessor, Hussein Onn.

During Mahathir's tenure as Prime Minister, Malaysia experienced a period of

rapid modernisation and economic growth, and his government initiated a series
of bold infrastructure projects. Mahathir was a dominant political figure, winning
five consecutive general elections and fending off a series of rivals for the
leadership of UMNO. However, his accumulation of power came at the expense
of the independence of the judiciary and the traditional powers and privileges of
Malaysia's royalty. He deployed the controversial Internal Security Act to detain
activists, non-mainstream religious figures, and political opponents including the
Deputy Prime Minister he fired in 1998,Anwar Ibrahim. Mahathir's record of
curbing civil liberties and his antagonism towards western interests and
economic policy made his relationships with the United States, United Kingdom
and Australia, among others, difficult. As Prime Minister, he was an advocate of
third-world development and a prominent international activist.

Mahathir remained an active political figure after his retirement. He became a

strident critic of his hand-picked successor Abdullah Badawi in 2006 and
later, Najib Razak in 2015.[3] His son Mukhriz Mahathir was the Chief Minister of
Kedah until early 2016. On 29 February 2016, Mahathir quit UMNO in light of
UMNO's support for the actions of Prime Minister Najib Razak. Among other
reasons are the RM2.6bil and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)
issues.[4] On 9 September 2016, the Registrar of Societies (RoS) gave his final
stamp of approval for Mahathir Mohamad’s new Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia
(PPBM) (English: Malaysian United Indigenous Party), making it an official
political party. Mahathir became the chairman of the party.[5] On 8 January 2018,
Mahathir was announced as the Pakatan Harapan candidate for Prime Minister
for the upcoming 2018 election, in a plan to pardon Anwar Ibrahim and hand the
role to him if successful. At 92, he is currently the oldest living former Prime
Minister of Malaysia, and were he to win the election, he would become the
world's oldest head of state or government