MAHA

ATH
HIR
R MOH
M HA
AMA
AD

An Ana
A alysiis
Su
ubmitte
ed to:
Suta
apa Bhatttacharjee
C
Course
Teacher
Busiiness Ethics and Leadership (Z105)

Su
ubmitted by:
S
Sarwath
Haz Mumu (Roll:: 70)
Sahila
a Sanzana
a(Roll: 86))
J
Jannatul
Fatima Orni
O (Roll:: 89)
Ga
azi Md. Ju
unaid Hossein (Ro
oll: 92)
Md. Faiy
yaz Hussa
ain (Roll: 94)
9
Nakib
bul Hoq (R
Roll: 100))

About Dr. Mahaathir Moh

hamad
1965. It was
w the yearr in which Singapore---p
S
previously a state in
the Fedeeration of Malaya, cuurrently knoown as Peeninsular
Malaysiaa----was exxpelled from
m its parennt country by the
democraatic governm
ment and made indeependent fo
ollowing
severe raacial riots between ethnnic Malays in
i Malaysia and the
Chinese in Singaporre.
Thhis was also the evennt that popuularized thee young
political organizer Dr
D Mahathirr Mohamadd, then a baackbench
member of the Maalaysian Parrliament buut subsequently the
fourth prime ministter of Malaaysia: holdinng the postt for 22
f
1981 too 2003.
years conntinuously from
Deespite his sttatus as the leader who revolutioniised the facee of Malayssia, we feel that it is
importannt to look att his work objectively.
o
This paper tries to evaaluate and annalyze his leeadership
styles annd attitudes praising hiss work, but at the same time expoosing his flaaws of charracter and
judgement.

Econom
mic Devellopment
Drr. Mahathir had
h a signifficant impactt on the eco
onomy, cultuure and goveernment of Malaysia.
M
He won five consecuutive electioons and servved for 22 yeears, longer than any othher prime minister
m
in
U
him, Malaysia
M
exxperienced raapid econom
mic growth. He began prrivatizing
Malaysiaas history. Under
governm
ment enterpriises, includiing airlines, utilities and telecomm
munications, which raiseed money
for the government
g
and improoved workinng condition
ns for manyy employeess. In 1991 Mahathir
released an economiic planThhe Way Forw
ward, or Vission 2020
asserting thhat the counttry would
be a fullly developeed nation by
b 2020. Thhis vision was
w one that would accelerate Malaysias
M
industry,, growth, moodernizationn and moral enlightenmeent of its poppulation.
Hee helped shifft the countrrys econom
mic base awaay from agricculture and nnatural resou
urces and
toward manufacturin
m
ng and expoorting, and the
t countrys per capitaa income dooubled from
m 1990 to
1996. Allthough Mallaysias grow
wth has slow
wed and itss unlikely thhe country w
will achieve this goal,
the economy remainns stable.At the end of 1996,
1
real GDP
G
was groowing at alm
most 8.5 percent per
annum foor 10 conseccutive years, with this rate of growtth continuinng for many more years. By 1997
total exteernal trade reached
r
morre than 157 billion US Dollars, maaking Malayysia the 18th
h biggest
exportin
ng nation annd the 17th
h biggest im
mporting na
ation in thee world, acccording to th
he World
Trade Orrganization (WTO).
(
Froom the 19700s to the earrly 2000s, thhe percentag
ge of personss over the agge of 6 who
o attended
school haad increasedd from 67% to 90%, witth the enrolm
ment for terttiary educatiion increasin
ng from 1
to 10% within
w
that saame period.

Leaderrship traits exhibitted by Dr Mahathiir Moham

mad
Drr Mahathirss character demonstrate
d
es an enorm
mous commiitment to geet things don
ne. He is
extremelly action-oriiented and possesses massive
m
job-relevant knnowledge. H
His insight into how
investmeent into prim
mary and seccondary eduucation will reshape thee future for tthe Malays is lauded
worldwidde and has made
m
Malaysia a global center for excellence inn education.
Hiis self-confiddence compplements hiss pride as Malay.
M
The only
o
son andd educated child
c
of a
family with
w low soccio-economic status, he understood
d that moderrn Malaysia must be un
nified and
modernizzed throughh methods thhat are uncoonventional and
a more cuulture-centriic. His enthu
usiasm in
preservinng Malay heritage
h
cann be seen inn everywheere in Malaaysia today, be it the restricted
traditionaal Malay village
v
of Kampung
K
Baaru in centeer Kuala Luumpur whoose real estaate worth
amounts to $2.2 billlion to the Malaysian administrattive center of Putrajayaa, where modernism
m
t
ojects, he
meets Isslamic archhitecture andd Eastern technologic
al efficienccy. Throughh these pro
epitomizzed the poweer of leaderrship by exaample, visio
on, creativitty and insighht into a bettter future
for his coountry. For example, when
w
he introoduced the punch
p
card and
a clock-inn system in the
t public
bureaucrracy, he him
mself set the example by leaving his office betw
ween 6.30 annd 7.00 pm, well
w after
the 4.30 pm clock-oout time. In his attemptt to encouraage civil serrvants to saave energy, he set an
o
himsellf and switcching them ooff when he went out
example by switchinng on the ligghts in his office
f home andd never allowing his off
ffice assistannt to switch oon the lightss for him.
for lunchh or leaves for
Another example is that he him
mself got invvolved in undertaking effforts to beaautify Kuala Lumpur.
a effort to make
m
Kualaa Lumpur thhe most beau
utiful and
He madee frequent trrips around the city in an
clean cityy. All these also show his
h eagernesss or drive to make subttle changes in the people around
him.
Onne of the moost importannt points about his charracter is thatt he understtood the meentality of
the comm
mon man. Having
H
beenn born and grown
g
up in
n an unpriviileged class,, he realized
d that the
only wayy to prospeerity is deveelopment of the lowerr and middlle classes. F
For them he created
scholarshhips, jobs, benefits,
b
reall estate etc so that development followed a botttom-up approach. His
innate extroverted, outspoken nature, in combinatio
on with an unmatchedd personal charisma,
c
m
easilyy than many other leadeers before
ensured that he coulld manipulaate people too his cause more
him.

Criticaal Analysiis of Dr. Mahathir

M
Mohama
ads Actioons
Sinnce Dr. Maahathir cam
me to powerr, he issued
d many policy statemeents, introdu
uced new
conceptss, and impleemented new
w techniquess and styless of manageement whichh attempted to infuse
new valuues and behaavioral charaacteristics am
mong civil servants
s
andd the entire ssociety at larrge. Most
of these were targeteed at shapinng the publicc bureaucraccy into an effficient, dynnamic and productive
m
n of Malayssia by chang
ging the behavior, attituddes and valu
ues of the
instrumeent for the modernizatio
employees in the civvil service.

Onne of the maain reasons for these addministrativee reforms annd programss was Dr. Mahathirs
M
skepticissm about thhe diligencee and efficieency of thee civil servaants. Dr. M
Mahathir beliieved the
private sector
s
couldd play a morre significannt role in th
he country's economy thhan the public sector
which iss why the privatization
p
n policy waas executed.. He often criticized thhe roles of the civil
servants openly in public
p
in thee developmeent of the nation
n
whichh upset a goood number of them.
D Mahathir''s criticismss had some elements
e
off truth and were
w
justifiabble, many critics and
While Dr.
civil servvants thoughht that such criticisms should
s
not have
h
been made
m
publiclyy, but comm
municated
diplomattically. As criticism
c
of civil servannts became in
ncreasingly apparent, aan open dialo
ogue was
held in early
e
1984 between the Prime
P
Minisster and mem
mbers of thee Associatioon of Malayssian Civil
Servants to discuss the
t matter annd it was aft
fter this dialo
ogue that thee relationshiip between the
t Prime
Minister and civil seervants began to improve.
E Policy he aimed at followingg the technoological dev
velopment
Acccording to his Look East
policies of Korea annd Japan. Inn addition, he
h also believed that it was not neecessary to follow or
a
by the cultural vallues of Asiaa and that
imitate thhe Western culture andd rather Asiaans should abide
the Asiann value of collectivism
c
should be upheld
u
ratheer than the Western value of indivvidualism.
This wass one of the keys used to
t bring aboout harmony
y and peace among the vvarious ethn
nicities of
Malaysiaa which oftten fought against eachh other in the past. He
H argued thhat people in Asian
countriess believe in the idea off strong govvernment, no
ot limited government
g
nimalism.
or state min
Dr. Mahhathir mentiioned that Malaysians
M
should resp
pect authoritty because authority guarantees
social staability, Wiithout authoority and staability theree can be no civility, eveen a Westerrn society
lauding individual rights,
r
will fragment and
a becomee more disordered. M
Mahathir claiimed that
ding Malayysia, over human rig
ghts and
Western pressure on developping counttries, includ
onomic deccline and pooverty. Witth such a
democraatization is intended to cause insstability, eco
situationn, they can thhreaten and control
c
us.
Drr. Mahathir also statedd that, Thee people wh
ho control the media control ourr minds
Mahathirrs governm
ment exploiteed these reassons to legittimize its control over tthe local meedia. The
governm
ment also exeercised its poower to streengthen the media
m
laws, particularlyy the Printin
ng Presses
and Publlications Actt, and to conntrol the locaal media com
mpanies as well
w as foreiign publicattions. The
Mahathirr governmeent was of the view thhat human rights
r
activvists and NG
GOs were agents
a
of
Western powers, arre a hindraance to the countrys economic developmen
d
nt and jeopaardize its
a
that the
t activitiees of movem
ments in civiil society thhat tend to meddle
m
in
stability. Mahathir argued
politics should be curbed
c
as thhey cleaarly aim to weaken goovernment aauthority an
nd do not
contribute to the pubblic good.
w
shownn as steps taaken to resist the hindrrances in the path of
Thhough all off the these were
developm
ment, it can be also infferred that Mahathir
M
waas to a largee extent autoocratic and therefore
wanted the
t control of
o Malaysia to be all to himself.
h
Thee most distuurbing use, oor rather abu
use, of the
cultural argument of collectivissm and resppecting authority is thatt it is often used as one of the
most useeful ideologgies in mouunting a deffence and bringing aboout internatioonal acquiescence in

state reppression andd thereby buuttressing thhe power off autocratic governmentts. Many crritics also
argue thhat strong auuthority is merely a juustification by
b Asian leeaders such as Dr. Maahathir of
autocratiic rule in theeir own counntries.
Maahathir, likee many otherr leaders, did not like th
he idea of beeing questioned or challlenged by
anyone. For instancee, in the genneral assembbly of UMN
NO in 1996 after wardinng off a chaallenge to
mpolite for
his leadeership, Mahaathir remindded his audieence that acccording to Malay tradiition it is im
someonee who sits inn the same committee
c
o cabinet to
or
o challenge another who also happ
pens to be
his boss. The UMN
NOs permaanent chair had earlierr made the same point,, advising th
hat while
leadershiip challengees were form
mally permiitted in the partys connstitution, acctually to mount
m
one
flouted cultural
c
undeerstandings. In 1998 sennsing a possible contendder to his rulle, Mahathirr detained
his once close friendd and ally Deputy Primee Minister Anwar
A
Ibrahiim under chharges of sod
domy and
corruptioon.
Annother exam
mple of Dr. Mahathirs
M
e
exercise
of autocracy
a
w the arrestting and dettaining of
was
119 peopple without charge in thhe police opeeration codeenamed "Lallang" under the Internall Security
Act. Mahhathir argueed that the detentions
d
were necessarry to prevennt a repeat of the 1969 race
r
riots.
Most of the detainees were proominent oppposition activ
vists, includding the leadder of the DAP,
D
Lim
w MPs. All in all, we caan easily sayy from thesee examples that there
Kit Siangg, and nine of his fellow
were a loot of impedim
ments for thhe oppositionn and the geeneral peoplee to raise theeir voices an
nd ask for
explanatiions about various
v
refoorms during the governm
ment of Dr.. Mahathir. Though burreaucracy
has its merits,
m
exerccising it to an extent of
o taking aw
way the right of freedoom of speecch is not
acceptab
ble.
Thhere were a number off controversiial developm
ments durinng Dr. Mahaathirs tenurre and of
them waas the ambittious Bakunn Dam in Saarawak. To deliver the project, Maahathir and the local
Barisan Nasional government
g
selected a head contrractor close to Mahathhir without an open
tenderingg process. The projecct subsequeently suffereed from ennvironmentaal protests, conflicts
between contractorss, and oppossition from the 10,000 residents who
w would bbe forcibly displaced
m was even
ntually suspeended due too the Asian financial
from thee Sarawak juungle. Workk on the dam
crisis. Beesides this, Dr. Mahathhir has also been
b
accused of illegallly amassing between $5
50 billion
to $100 billion
b
dollaars.
Alll throughouut his politiical career and
a even well
w after, Mahathir
M
haas had to faace harsh
criticism
m for his outsspoken naturre and nervee to go wherre others do not. He has been known
n to make
anti-Sem
mitic commeents all throoughout his career and
d continued to reiteratee these view
ws. He is
commonnly quoted too have rebukked the Musslim nations for falling behind theirr Jewish cou
unterparts
due to laack on innoovation and intelligent governance. He said,T
The Europeaans killed siix million

Jews outt of 12 millioon. But todaay the Jews rule

r this world by proxyy. They get oothers to fighht and die
for them.. The speecch was also condemnedd by severall nations froom the Westtern world. Speaking
on behallf of the Euuropean Unioon, Italian Foreign
F
Min
nister Franco Frattini saaid that Dr Mahathir
had empployed "exprressions that were gravvely offensivve, very strongly anti-Seemitic and.... strongly

counter to
t principless of tolerancce, dialogue and understanding'. It is
i inexcusabble for a persson of his
influencee to make suuch commennts as that may
m affect thee ideals of thhose who follow him.

Leaderrship Stylle of Dr. Mahathir

M
Mohama
ad
It is diffficult to classsify his leaadership style into broaadly one claass of leaderrship. It is a mixture
of severral differennt ideologiees and prim
mary amon
ng them arre the onees employed by all
successfful political leaders: traansformationnal, transacttional and autocratic
a
leeadership sty
yles.
The founnder of moddern Malayssia challengged the statu
us quo that Asian
A
natioons must em
mulate the
Westernn stable econnomies. In 1998, whenn the Asian economic crisis
c
devaluuated the Malaysian
M
ringgit to
t half its value,
v
instead of lookiing towardss the IMF like
l
the resst of the deeveloping
states hiit by the reccession, Drr. Mohamadd successfully pulled his
h country back into the
t foray
through the unorthhodox technnique of seelective exchange conntrol. Despite the baccklash of
nd abroad, this
t
approach garnered
d success
Westernn economistts and oppoosition at booth home an
rapidly. These are just
j
some of
o the exam
mples of his transformaational leadeership. Every ethnic
middle and lower class Malaay derived inspiration
n from the ex-prime m
ministers visionary
v
policies for econom
mic and soocial develoopment of the Malays. He was,, at the sam
me time,
charismaatic and maanipulative.
Dr. Mahhathir also exhibited
e
thee transactioonal leadersh
hip style. Thhis can be sseen in the course
c
of
his admiinistrative reforms
r
in which
w
the exxpectations from the ciivil servantts and the ciitizens of
Malaysiaa were cleearly comm
municated along
a
with the associiated rewarrd and pun
nishment.
Besides,, Dr. Mahatthir seemed to have carrried out an
n active mannagement dduring his teenure. He
actively looked intoo a lot of detail
d
of varrious projeccts and keptt an eye onn the progreess of his
associatees. As alreeady statedd earlier Drr. Mahathirr was also autocratic to a largee extent.
Whenevver he felt he
h has takenn the right decision, he
h paid no heed
h
to anyything else. Banning
internatiional newsppapers, imprrisoning thoousands of opponent political
p
actiivists are feew of the
examplees of Dr Mahhathirs reppressive poliitical system
m.

Conclu
usion
It in universaally acceptedd that Malaaysia would
d not be whhat it is todday of weree not for
Mahathirr. Unfortunaately that inncludes bothh the good,, and the baad. Mahathiir has been a highly
controveersial figure for his autoocratic stylee of leadersh
hip and anti-Semitism; but for his efforts to
promote the econom
mic developm
ment of thee country, Mahathir
M
hass been grantted the soub
briquet of
M
on). Formerr Law Miniister Zaid Ibrahim wro
ote in his
Bapa Peemodenan (Father of Modernizatio
memoirss:

"In
In my heartt, I cannot accept alleegations thaat Dr Mahhathir persoonally was a
corrrupt man. Corrupt people
p
are never
n
bravee enough too speak as lloudly as Dr
D
M
Mahathir.
W
Wealth
is nott a major motivation foor him. He only
o craves ppower."

References
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M
Imperrative, Asia
an Wall Streeet Journal, 113 May.
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Doonnelly, J. (1989) Unniversal Hum
University Press.
(
Hum
man Rights, Democracy
y and Asiann values, T
The PacificR
Review, 9,
Freeeman, M. (1996)
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HATHIR MOHAMAD
M
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17thBiennnial Confereence of the Asian
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htttp://www.kuualalumpurppost.net/maahathirs-22--years-of-miisdeeds-involving-corrruptionconspiraacies-illicitly
ly-gained-biillions-and--abuse-of-po
ower/?id=33
wiki/Mahathhir_Mohama
ad
htttp://en.wikippedia.org/w

htttp://www.ecconomist.coom