Mahathir, 100 Years in Progress and Control

At 100 years old, Mahathir is no doubt a divisive figure. Among many Malay voters, especially of older generations, he is revered as a champion of Malay rights and the father of modern Malaysia. To others, especially younger Malaysians and ethnic minorities, he is remembered for fostering a country built on racial patronage, elitism, and control.

His mindset, exuberantly expressed in his speeches over the decades, reflect a worldview where your race determined your place in the world. Despite his insistence on a united Malaysia, his history is pockmarked with incidents, such as his public use of derogatory ethnic terms or his dismissal of multicultural concerns. It’s as if, deep down inside, he never fully embraced the pluralism that should define Malaysia.

His tenure as Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister reflected this constant hypocrisy: rapid economic growth and a hollowing of democratic institutions. His first term from 1981 to 2003 saw unprecedented modernization, glittering skyscrapers, highways stretching across the peninsula, and a booming industrial sector. Few can deny that Mahathir was the architect of Malaysia’s transformation into ASEAN’s 3rd largest economy we see today

But this modernization came hand-in-hand with authoritarianism. Mahathir concentrated power in the executive branch, weakened the judiciary, and clamped down on dissent. His use of laws like the Internal Security Act to detain political opponents, particularly during the 1987 Operasi Lalang crackdown, signaled his belief in control rather than consensus. His dismissal of Supreme Court judges during the 1988 judicial crisis marked a historic low for judicial independence in Malaysia. In the name of stability and development, Mahathir entrenched a governance model where loyalty was rewarded, dissent punished, and Mahathir reigned supreme.

Even after stepping down in 2003, Mahathir refused to fade from the political scene. His public attacks on successors like Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak culminated in his shocking return to power in 2018, this time as the head of the reformist Pakatan Harapan coalition. Malaysians voted overwhelmingly for change, hoping Mahathir 2.0 would usher in an era of reform.

But that hope quickly faded. Despite promises to pass the baton to Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir hesitated, and political infighting led to the collapse of the government in early 2020. His resignation left a leadership vacuum, paving the way for backdoor political maneuvering that sidelined voters’ choice. To many, this confirmed long-held suspicions: Mahathir’s return was less about reform and more about settling old scores. Instead of shepherding Malaysia’s transition into the 21st century,, he presided over its unraveling.

Mahathir’s paradox is clear: the leader who modernized Malaysia also helped delay its democratic maturity. His legacy is not just in Kuala Lumpur’’s towers or Penang’s semiconductor factories,, it is also in a fragile political culture, resistant to reform and reluctant to move beyond race-based politics. As we as Malaysians reflect on a century of Mahathir, we must ask whether the country is finally ready to outgrow the man who defined it for so long.