MEMOIR BY TUN DR MAHATHIR LAUNCHED TOMORROW
Bernama - Tuesday, March 8
KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 (Bernama) -- The much-awaited memoir by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, entitled "A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad", will be launched tomorrow by the MPH Group of Companies.
MPH general manager Ivy Tan said the 800-page book, priced at RM100 each, "will take readers on a journey known to very few outside Tun''s immediate family."
"From his earliest memories of childhood, including at the time when Malaya''s struggles through the sunset of British colonialism, World War II and Independence to his life as a doctor," she said in a statement issued here, today.
She said the book, which would be released for sale at 10am tomorrow, brought to life the history of Malaysia "as seen through the eyes of one who often played a vital and, in later years, decisive role in the nation''s growth and development."
The book is all about the former prime minister''s frank, candid, often humorous, and occasionally unforgiving assessment of the times he lived through and helped shape, she said.
Dr Mahathir is expected to attend the media launch of the book in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow evening.
-- BERNAMA
A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
PETALING JAYA - Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is unconcerned about possible lawsuits over his memoirs. Dr Mahathir said he was driven to tell the truth in his autobiography A Doctor in the House. "There will be those who will not be satisfied. If they want to sue, sue lah," he quipped after launching the book at Mid Valley Megamall yesterday.
" Dr Mahathir said he had kept its publication a secret Dr Mahathir said during his tenure as Prime Minister, he was described as a dictator. until the launch date to avoid a possible court injunction to stop its release. "I want people to read it. Whatever they think of it is their prerogative," he said. It took him eight years to write the autobiography, he said. "I did not type. I used long hand." "(In the autobiography) I tried to prove that I am not. But some people will still feel otherwise," he said. To a question, Dr Mahathir said that through his biography, he wanted to deliver the message that it was not impossible to achieve anything when one is willing to learn.
Dr Mahathir also took a swipe at Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim whom he accused had claimed credit for certain things. "He (Anwar) is claiming that the setting up of UIA (International Islamic University Malaysia) was his idea," he said. On his next project, Dr Mahathir said he would look into rewriting The Malay Dilemma. "I was a commoner, I was not trained in the field of administration, economics or finance. But you can learn if you want to learn. The best reward is not monetary gains but the results of your effort," he said.
"When they (the Malays) were poor they were in a dilemma. When they are rich, there is a bigger dilemma," he said.
-The Star/Asia News Network
A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad 2
KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — Malaysia’s biggest race is like the displaced Palestinian Arabs who seem nationalistic but cannot resist selling away their rights to high bidders, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wrote in memoirs released yesterday.
Dr Mahathir has been an ardent defender and critic of the Malay race, and has both written and commented extensively on the community and its future direction.
“Outwardly, the Malays seem to be nationalistic, at times to the point of being racist. They can become very anti-Chinese and do not hesitate to be rude and unreasonable when criticising them. Their attitude recalls the behaviour of the Arabs in Palestine,” the former prime minister wrote in his autobiography, “A Doctor In The House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad”.
“Nationalist or not, they could not resist the prices offered,” Dr Mahathir said in his comparison of the two races half a world apart.
He observed that while the Arabs were strident in condemning the Zionists for carving out an Israel state out of their land, they had also “willingly sold their land to the Jews”.
“I am not suggesting that our Chinese Malaysians are like the Jews, only that the Malays have acted like the Palestinian Arabs,” said Dr Mahathir, a known world leader in championing Palestine’s cause against the Zionist regime in the strife-ridden Middle East conflict.
Closer to home, he is known as the patron of pro-Malay rights group, Perkasa, which has been lobbying the Najib administration to keep the New Economic Policy (NEP).
The NEP was a 20-year national policy introduced by in 1971 to boost Malay and Bumiputera ownership in the corporate sector to at least 30 per cent, but failed; an outcome which Dr Mahathir himself acknowledged in the book published this month by MPH Group Publishing.
The Malaysian prime minister from 1981 to 2003 said this was due to the Malays’ own weaknesses.
“Malays like to believe or claim that the Chinese have succeeded in business through cheating. Yet when a Malay wants to sign a contract (to build a house, for example), he will not give it to a Malay contractor. He would prefer a Chinese contractor. He obviously trusts the Chinese more than the Malays,” he pointed out.
“Many Malays have become so used to a life of continual economic support, that when the flow stops they simply cannot continue on their own. Rather than learn about business and managing money, they spend their energies on cultivating contracts and gaining access to easy, short-term
opportunities,” Dr Mahathir further observed in the book published nearly eight years after he left public office.
The retired medical doctor who turns 86 in July said that as a Malay, he does not want to “denounce the bad work ethic of so many Malays” but hopes that his honesty will help prod them into action for their own sake.
“I fear that those brave words of Malay defiance — Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia (Malays shall never disappear from this world) — will one day come back to haunt us.
“Preventing this from happening has been the biggest challenge of my life and of my generation,” Dr Mahathir wrote in the 809-page tome.
The country’s longest-serving prime minister announced his political retirement in tears in 2002, saying he had failed to change the Malay mindset but was persuaded by Umno to remain as party president and premier until 2003, when he handed power to then deputy Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
While Abdullah went on to win the ruling Barisan Nasional’s (BN) biggest majority of 91 per cent of parliament seats, Dr Mahathir went on to campaign against his successor for allegedly promoting his (Abdullah’s) family and friends at the expense of others.
In a stunning reversal of fortune, Abdullah then led BN to its worst electoral losses in Election 2008, when it lost 82 parliamentary seats and four states to an opposition pact led by Dr Mahathir’s sacked deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Dr Mahathir has come back to public prominence under new prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and even rejoined Umno, which he left in a huff in protest against Abdullah, who resigned from his post in April 2009.
A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad 4
Dr Mahathir: 'Malaysians must have fighting spirit'
(Bernama) - Malaysians must have fighting spirit and strong character to ensure that they are able to stand up and defend the country against its enemies, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The former prime minister said Malaysians must also be prepared to fight for a cause, for oneself and for their families, and should not be defeated easily.
It was his principle in life that whatever happens, "we must fight, win and able to stand up again", he told reporters after launching his memoir "A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad", here Tuesday.
The trouble with most Malaysia Today readers is that they will disagree with everything Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says even when he’s right. And in that same spirit they will agree with whatever the opposition leaders say even when they are wrong.
We must be able to agree when agreement is due and agree to disagree when disagreement is due -- or else we will be just like cattle with a herd mentality.
Take what Dr Mahathir said above: Malaysians must have fighting spirit and strong character to ensure that they are able to stand up and defend the country against its enemies.
Okay, before you get your knickers all twisted into knots, stop, take a deep breath, and reflect on what Dr Mahathir just said. And pray tell what is wrong with what he said? What he said is absolutely right. Malaysians must have fighting spirit and strong character to ensure that they are able to stand up and defend the country against its enemies.
Now, who does Dr Mahathir mean by ‘enemies of the country’? Let me list them down, although not necessarily in order of priority.
Top of the list are politicians who abuse their power, are corrupted, and steal the taxpayers’ hard-earned money. The majority of these people would be in Barisan Nasional although there are also a few in Pakatan Rakyat.
These people can be classified as ‘Enemy Number One’ whom we need to defend Malaysia against. Therefore we need to kick them out come the next election. And to do that we would need to register as voters and make sure that we come out to vote.
Next on my list would be corrupt civil/public servants, Ministers included. They are costing the country a lot of money, money that could have instead be used to improve health care, educational facilities, roads, and whatnot.
Schools, hospitals and housing for the poor could have been built with the billions that the country has wasted over the last 35 years since the mid-1970s. Malaysia has earned and spent an estimated RM2,000 billion since the mid-1970s. That is two trillion ringgit of OUR money.
Third on my list are bigots, racists, religious freaks intolerant of those not of their religious beliefs, Malaysians who judge other people according to their warped standards, hypocrites who condemn others but are devils disguised as angels, the holier than thou who think they know best the road to heaven and hell, and all those people you would never invite to your party.
Fourth would be the cakap banyak (talk too much) people who have so much bad things to say about the government but do not do their duty in changing the government.
You find many of these people getting drunk at the Long Bar in Selangor Club. They will foam at the mouth and preach to you about what is wrong with the country but have never voted in their life. Some are not even registered as voters.
Fifth are those who agree that the country is going to the dogs but will still vote for the government they condemn because of cari makan reasons (looking after their stomach).
Some of these people will argue that it is better that we support the devil we know than an angel we don’t know. They will say that at least with a corrupt government we can get things done by paying ‘under the table’. In short, corruption facilitates what would not be possible with a clean government.
Sixth on my list are judges who rule based on what is good for their careers and to ensure their promotion is not blocked and that they would not instead be sent into ‘cold storage’. These judges will do what the political masters want and not what the law stipulates.
Seventh are the corrupt police officers who serve the political masters, protect the underworld, assassinate ‘criminals’ who they can’t get enough evidence to put on trial, and put in jail on trumped up charges all those who oppose the government.
Eighth is the Election Commission that ensures Barisan Nasional will never be defeated by running a fraudulent election.
Ninth is the Anti-Corruption Commission that makes sure all corrupt Barisan Nasional politicians escape punishment while they fabricate charges against opposition politicians and send them to jail.
Tenth are the editors of the mainstream electronic and print media who turn TV/radio stations and newspapers into a propaganda arm of the ruling party.
There are or course many more enemies of the country such as BTN, VCs of universities, Chinese ‘running dogs’ of Umno, Indian ‘mandores’ of Barisan Nasional, etc., who are doing a great disservice to the country. Nevertheless, the top ten I listed above are the enemies of Malaysia whom Dr Mahathir said we must defend the country against.
So, how can we disagree with Dr Mahathir? What the Tun said is absolutely true and when he says something true we must agree with him. We must defend Malaysia against these enemies of the country. And there are many such enemies who we need to defeat.
As Dr Mahathir said: Malaysians must also be prepared to fight for a cause, for oneself and for their families, and should not be defeated easily.
Rearranged by Saiful Anuar Safian
