Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir was sworn in as prime minister on 16 July 1981, at the age of 56.[31] One of his first acts was to release 21 detainees held under the Internal Security Act, including journalist Samad Ismail and a former deputy minister in Hussein's government, Abdullah Ahmad, who had been suspected of being an underground communist.[32] He appointed his close ally, Musa Hitam, as deputy prime minister.[33]

Mahathir exercised caution in his first two years in power, consolidating UMNO's leadership and, with victory in the 1982 general election, the government.[34][35] In 1983, Mahathir commenced the first of a number of battles he would have with Malaysia's royalty during his premiership. The position of Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Malaysian head of state, was due to rotate into either the elderly Idris Shah II of Perak or the controversial Iskandar of Johor, who had only a few years earlier been convicted of manslaughter. Thus Mahathir had grave reservations about the two Sultans, who were both activist rulers of their own states.[36][37] Mahathir tried to pre-emptively limit the power that the new Agong could wield over his government, introducing to parliament amendments to the Constitution to deem the Agong to assent to any bill that had not been assented within 15 days of passage by Parliament. The proposal would also remove the power to declare a state of emergency from the Agong and place it with the prime minister. The Agong at the time, Ahmad Shah of Pahang, agreed with the proposals in principle but baulked when he realised that the proposal would also deem Sultans to assent to laws passed by state assemblies. Supported by the Sultans, the Agong refused to assent to the constitutional amendments, which had by then passed both houses of Parliament with comfortable majorities.[38][39] When the public became aware of the impasse, and the Sultans refused to compromise with the government, Mahathir took to the streets to demonstrate public support for his position in mass rallies. The press took the side of the government. However, a large minority of Malays, including conservative UMNO politicians, and an even larger proportion of the Chinese community supported the Sultans. After five months, the crisis resolved, as Mahathir and the Sultans agreed to a compromise. The Agong would retain the power to declare a state of emergency. However, if he refused to assent to a bill, the bill would be returned to Parliament, which could then override Agong's veto.[40]

A 2012 prototype of the Proton Prevé Sapphire. Mahathir believed that an automotive industry could help turn Malaysia into becoming an industrial nation. His government used tariffs to support the development of the Proton as a Malaysian-made car and limited capital outflow of the ringgit to foreign countries.

On the economic front, Mahathir inherited the New Economic Policy from his predecessors, which was designed to improve the economic position of the bumiputera (Malaysia's Malays and indigenous peoples) through targets and affirmative action in areas such as corporate ownership and university admission.[41] Mahathir also actively pursued privatisation of government enterprises from the early 1980s, both for the liberal economic reasons it was being pursued by contemporaries such as Margaret Thatcher, and because he felt that combined with affirmative action for the Bumiputera it could provide economic opportunities for Bumiputera businesses.[42] His government privatised airlines, utilities and telecommunication firms, accelerating to a rate of about 50 privatisations a year by the mid-1990s.[43] While privatisation generally improved the working conditions of Malaysians in privatised industries and raised significant revenue for the government, many privatisations occurred in the absence of open tendering processes and benefited Malays who supported UMNO. One of the most notable infrastructure projects at the time was the construction of the North–South Expressway, a motorway running from the Thai border to Singapore; the contract to construct the expressway was awarded to a business venture of UMNO.[44] Mahathir also oversaw the establishment of the car manufacturer Proton as a joint venture between the Malaysian government and Mitsubishi. By the end of the 1980s, Proton had overcome poor demand and losses to become, with the support of protective tariffs, the largest carmaker in Southeast Asia and a profitable enterprise.[45]

In Mahathir's early years as prime minister, Malaysia was experiencing a resurgence of Islam among Malays. Malays were becoming more religious and more conservative. PAS, which had in the 1970s joined UMNO in government, responded to the resurgence by taking an increasingly strident Islamist stand under the leadership of the man who in 1969 had defeated Mahathir for his parliamentary seat Yusof Rawa. Mahathir tried to appeal to religious voters by establishing Islamic institutions such as the International Islamic University of Malaysia which could promote Islamic education under the government's oversight. He also attracted Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM), to join UMNO. In some cases, Mahathir's government employed repression against more extreme exponents of Islamism. Ibrahim Libya, a popular Islamist leader, was killed in a police shoot-out in 1985; Al-Arqam, a religious sect, was banned, and its leader, Ashaari Mohammad, arrested under the Internal Security Act.[46] Mahathir comprehensively defeated PAS at the polls in 1986, winning 83 seats of the 84 seats it contested, leaving PAS with just one MP.[47]

Any illusion that the 1986 election may have created about Mahathir's political dominance was short-lived. In 1987, he was challenged for UMNO's presidency, and effectively the prime ministership, by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Razaleigh's career had gone backwards under Mahathir, being demoted from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Razaleigh was supported by Musa, who had resigned as deputy prime minister the previous year. While Musa and Mahathir were originally close allies, the two had fallen out during Mahathir's premiership. Musa claimed that Mahathir no longer trusted him. Razaleigh and Musa ran for the UMNO presidency and deputy presidency on a joint ticket against Mahathir and his new choice for deputy Ghafar Baba. The tickets were known as Team B and Team A, respectively. Mahathir's Team A enjoyed the press's support, most party heavyweights, and even Iskandar, now the Agong. However, some significant figures, such as Abdullah Badawi supported Team B. In the election, held on 24 April 1987, Team A prevailed. Mahathir was re-elected by a narrow margin, receiving the votes of 761 party delegates to Razaleigh's 718. Ghafar defeated Musa by a slightly larger margin. Mahathir responded by purging seven Team B supporters from his ministry. At the same time, Team B refused to accept defeat and initiated litigation. In an unexpected decision in February 1988, the High Courts ruled that UMNO was an illegal organisation as some of its branches had not been lawfully registered.[48][49]

Each faction raced to register a new party under the UMNO name. Mahathir's side successfully registered the name "UMNO Baru" ("new UMNO"), while Team B's application to register "UMNO Malaysia" was rejected. UMNO Malaysia, under Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's leadership and support of both of Malaysia's surviving former prime ministers, Abdul Rahman and Hussein, registered the party Semangat 46 instead.[50] The Lord President of the Supreme Court, Salleh Abas, sent a letter of protest to the Agong. Mahathir then suspended Salleh for "gross misbehaviour and conduct", ostensibly because the letter was a breach of protocol. A tribunal set up by Mahathir found Salleh guilty and recommended to the Agong that Salleh be dismissed. Five other judges of the court supported Salleh and were suspended by Mahathir. A newly constituted court dismissed Team B's appeal, allowing Mahathir's faction to continue to use the name UMNO. According to Milne and Mauzy, the episode destroyed the independence of Malaysia's judiciary.[51]

At the same time as the political and judicial crises, Mahathir initiated a crackdown on opposition dissidents using the Internal Security Act. Mahathir later declared that it was only used to lock up people accused of riots, unlawful assembly, terrorism and those who have murdered police officers. The appointment of several administrators who did not speak Mandarin to Chinese schools provoked an outcry among Chinese Malaysians to the point where UMNO's coalition partners the Malaysian Chinese Association and Gerakan joined the Democratic Action Party (DAP) in protesting the appointments. UMNO's Youth wing held a provocative protest that triggered a shooting by a lone Malay gunman, and only Mahathir's interference prevented UMNO from staging a larger protest. Instead, Mahathir ordered what Wain calls "the biggest crackdown on political dissent Malaysia had ever seen". Under the police operation codenamed "Operation Lalang", 119 people were arrested and detained without charge under the Internal Security Act. Mahathir argued that the detentions were necessary to prevent a repeat of the 1969 race riots. Most of the detainees were prominent opposition activists, including the DAP leader, Lim Kit Siang, and nine of his fellow MPs. Three newspapers sympathetic to the opposition were shut down.[52]

Mahathir suffered a heart attack in early 1989,[53] but recovered to lead Barisan Nasional to victory in the 1990 election. Semangat 46 failed to make any headway outside Razaleigh's home state of Kelantan.[54]

A view of Petronas Twin Towers and the surrounding central business district in Kuala Lumpur.

The expiry of the Malaysian New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1990 allowed Mahathir to outline his economic vision for Malaysia. In 1991, he announced Vision 2020, under which Malaysia would aim to become a fully developed country within 30 years.[55] The target would require average economic growth of approximately seven per cent of gross domestic product per annum.[56] One of Vision 2020's features would be to gradually break down ethnic barriers. Vision 2020 was accompanied by the NEP's replacement, the National Development Policy (NDP), under which some government programs designed to benefit the bumiputera exclusively were opened up to other ethnicities.[57] The NDP achieved success out one of its main aims, poverty reduction. By 1995, less than nine per cent of Malaysians lived in poverty, and income inequality had narrowed.[58] Mahathir also introduced the Bangsa Malaysia policy, which aimed to facilitate greater representation of non-Malay ethnicities in Malaysia.[59] Mahathir's government cut corporate taxes and liberalised financial regulations to attract foreign investment. The economy grew by over nine per cent per annum until 1997, prompting other developing countries to emulate Mahathir's policies.[60] Much of the credit for Malaysia's economic development in the 1990s went to Anwar Ibrahim, appointed by Mahathir as finance minister in 1991.[61] The government rode the economic wave and won the 1995 election with an increased majority.[62]

Mahathir initiated a series of major infrastructure projects in the 1990s. One of the largest was the Multimedia Super Corridor, an area south of Kuala Lumpur, in the mould of Silicon Valley, designed to cater for the information technology industry. However, the project failed to generate the investment anticipated. Other Mahathir projects included the development of Putrajaya as the home of Malaysia's public service and bringing a Formula One Grand Prix to Sepang. One of the most controversial developments was the Bakun Dam in Sarawak. The ambitious hydro-electric project was intended to carry electricity across the South China Sea to satisfy electricity demand in peninsular Malaysia. Work on the dam was eventually suspended due to the Asian financial crisis.[63] The 1997 Southeast Asian haze, the worst haze event in history caused by Indonesian forest fires, was a major air pollution crisis for the country; Mahathir launched a cross-border firefighting operation in response.[64]

In 1997, the Asian financial crisis, which began in Thailand in mid-1997, threatened to devastate Malaysia. The value of the ringgit plummeted due to currency speculation, foreign investment fled, and the main stock exchange index fell by over 75 per cent. At the urging of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government cut government spending. It raised interest rates, which only served to exacerbate the economic situation. In 1998, in a controversial approach, Mahathir reversed this policy course in defiance of the IMF and his own deputy, Anwar. He increased government spending and fixed the ringgit to the US dollar. The result confounded his international critics and the IMF. Malaysia recovered from the crisis faster than its Southeast Asian neighbours. In the domestic sphere, it was a political triumph. Amidst the economic events of 1998, Mahathir had dismissed Anwar as finance minister and deputy prime minister. He could now claim to have rescued the economy despite Anwar's policies.[65] Anwar led the reformasi movement against Mahathir's government in response.[66]

In his second decade in office, Mahathir had again found himself battling Malaysia's royalty. In 1992, Sultan Iskandar's son, a representative field hockey player, was suspended from competition for five years for assaulting an opponent. Iskandar retaliated by pulling all Johor hockey teams out of national competitions. When a local coach criticised his decision, Iskandar ordered him to his palace and beat him. The federal parliament unanimously censured Iskandar, and Mahathir leapt at the opportunity to remove the constitutional immunity of the sultans from civil and criminal suits. The press backed Mahathir and, in an unprecedented development, started airing allegations of misconduct by members of Malaysia's royal families. As the press revealed examples of the rulers' extravagant wealth, Mahathir resolved to cut financial support to royal households. With the press and the government pitted against them, the sultans capitulated to the government's proposals. Their powers to deny assent to bills were limited by further constitutional amendments passed in 1994. With the status and powers of the Malaysian royalty diminished, Wain writes that by the mid-1990s, Mahathir had become the country's "uncrowned king".[67]

Mahathir addressing the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2003

By the mid-1990s, it became clear that the most serious threat to Mahathir's power was Anwar's leadership ambition. Anwar began to distance himself from Mahathir, overtly promoting his superior religious credentials and appearing to suggest he favoured loosening the restrictions on civil liberties that had become a hallmark of Mahathir's premiership.[68] However, Mahathir continued to back Anwar as his successor until their relationship collapsed dramatically during the Asian financial crisis, with Mahathir abandoning the tight monetary and fiscal policies urged by the IMF. Anwar refused to bail-out Mahathir son, Mirzan Mahathir's, interests in Malaysian International Shipping Corp.[69]

At the UMNO General Assembly in 1998, a leading Anwar supporter, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, criticised the government for not doing enough to combat corruption and cronyism. As Mahathir took the reins of Malaysia's economic policy over the coming months, Anwar was increasingly sidelined. On 2 September, he was dismissed as deputy prime minister and finance minister and promptly expelled from UMNO. No immediate reasons were given for the dismissal. However, the media speculated that it related to lurid allegations of sexual misconduct circulated in a "poison pen letter" at the general assembly.[70] As more allegations surfaced, large public rallies were held in support of Anwar. On 20 September, he was arrested and placed in detention under the Internal Security Act.[71]

Anwar stood trial on four charges of corruption, arising from allegations that Anwar abused his power by ordering police to intimidate persons who had alleged Anwar had sodomised them. Before Anwar's trial, Mahathir told the press that he was convinced of Anwar's guilt. He was found guilty in April 1999 and sentenced to six years in prison. In another trial shortly after, Anwar was sentenced to another nine years in prison on a conviction for sodomy. The sodomy conviction was overturned on appeal after Mahathir left office.[72]

While Mahathir had vanquished his rival, it came at a cost to his international community and domestic politics. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright defended Anwar as a "highly respectable leader" who was "entitled to due process and a fair trial".[73] In a speech in Kuala Lumpur, which Mahathir attended, US Vice-President Al Gore stated that "we continue to hear calls for democracy", including "among the brave people of Malaysia".[74] At the APEC summit in 1999, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien refused to meet Mahathir, while his foreign minister met with Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.[75] Wan Azizah had formed a liberal opposition party, the National Justice Party (Keadilan) to fight the 1999 election. UMNO lost 18 seats and two state governments as large numbers of Malay voters flocked to PAS and Keadilan, many in protest at the treatment of Anwar.[76]

In September 2001 debate was caused by Mahathir's announcement that Malaysia was already an Islamic state.[77] At UMNO's general assembly in 2002, he announced that he would resign as prime minister, only for supporters to rush to the stage and convince him tearfully to remain. He subsequently fixed his retirement for October 2003, giving him time to ensure an orderly and uncontroversial transition to his anointed successor, Abdullah Badawi.[78] In a speech made before the Organization of the Islamic Conference shortly before he left office, Mahathir claimed "the Jews rule the world by proxy: They get others to fight and die for them."[79] His speech was denounced by President George W. Bush.[80] Having spent over 22 years in office, Mahathir was the world's longest-serving elected leader when he retired.[81]

Mahathir with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2003

During Mahathir's term, Malaysia's relationship with the West was collaborative, despite him being known as an outspoken critic.[82] Early during his tenure, a small disagreement with the United Kingdom over university tuition fees sparked a boycott of all British goods led by Mahathir, in what became known as the "Buy British Last" campaign. It also led to a search for development models in Asia, most notably Japan. This was the beginning of his famous "Look East Policy".[83] Although the dispute was later resolved by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mahathir continued to emphasise Asian development models over contemporary Western ones. He particularly criticised what he believed were the double standards of Western nations.[84]

Mahathir was publicly critical of the foreign policy of the United States from time to time, particularly during the George W. Bush presidency.[85] Nevertheless, relations between the two countries were still positive. The United States was the biggest foreign investment source and was Malaysia's biggest customer during Mahathir's rule. Furthermore, Malaysian military officers continued to train in the US under the International Military Education And Training (IMET) program. The BBC reported that relations with the United States took a turn for the worse in 1998 when Al Gore, Vice President of the United States, gave a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference hosted by Malaysia.[86] Gore stated that:

Mahathir greeting US Secretary of Defense William Cohen in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 during Pacific Dialogue Conference

Democracy confers a stamp of legitimacy that reforms must have in order to be effective. And so, among nations suffering economic crises, we continue to hear calls for democracy, calls for reform, in many languages – People Power, doi moi, reformasi. We hear them today – right here, right now – among the brave people of Malaysia.[87]

Gore and the United States were critical of the trial of Mahathir's former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, going so far as to label it as a "show trial". U.S. News & World Report called the trial a "tawdry spectacle."[88] Also, Anwar was the preeminent Malaysian spokesperson for the economic policies preferred by the IMF, which included interest-rate hikes. An article in Malaysia Today commented that "Gore's comments constituted a none-too-subtle attack on Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and more generally on governments, including Japan, that resist US demands for further market reforms."[89]

During the ASEAN meeting in 1997, Mahathir made a speech condemning the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, suggesting its revision. He said that in Asia, the society's interests are more important than an individual's interests. He added that Asians need economic growth more than civil liberties. These remarks did not endear him to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was a guest at the meeting[90] and paid a visit to Anwar's wife following his firing and subsequent imprisonment.[91]

The United States government has previously criticised the Malaysian government for implementing the ISA, and Mahathir has not hesitated to point to the United States to justify his own actions. In speaking of arbitrary detention without trial of prisoners of conscience in Malaysia, he said: "Events in the United States have shown that there are instances where certain special powers need to be used in order to protect the public for the general good."[92] In 2003, Mahathir spoke to the Non-Aligned Movement in Kuala Lumpur. He blamed Western nations and Israel for a global rise in terrorism: "If innocent people who died in the attack on Afghanistan and those who have been dying from lack of food and medical care in Iraq are considered collaterals, are the 3,000 who died in New York and the 200 in Bali also just collaterals whose deaths are necessary for operations to succeed?" He also said: "If we think back, there was no systematic campaign of terror outside Europe until the Europeans and the Jews created a Jewish state out of Palestinian land."[93] A 2003 house hearing by the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific of the U.S. House International Relations Committee (now called the House Committee on Foreign Affairs) summarises the relationship between the United States and Malaysia as follows: "Despite sometimes blunt and intemperate public remarks by Prime Minister Mahathir, U.S.-Malaysian cooperation has a solid record in areas as diverse as education, trade, military relations, and counter-terrorism."[94]

Mahathir's relationship with Australia (the closest country in the Anglosphere to Malaysia and the one whose foreign policy is most concentrated on the region) and his relationship with Australia's political leaders was particularly rocky. Relationships between Mahathir and Australia's leaders reached a low point in 1993 when Paul Keating described Mahathir as "recalcitrant" for not attending the APEC summit. The Malaysian government threatened trade sanctions as a response, while the Australian government claimed that Keating's description was a linguistic gaffe, and that what he had in mind was "intransigent".[95]

Mahathir is an alumnus of the University of Malaya . He studied at the university's predecessor, The King Edward VII College of Medicine between 1947 and 1953. When the university granted him and his wife honorary degrees in November 2018, he said, "I will always value my stay in Singapore for nearly six years." Singapore's long-time prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was a student at the Raffles College, which merged with the King Edward VII College of Medicine on 8th August 1949 to form the University of Malaya with campuses located solely in Singapore.[96] However, relations with Singapore under Mahathir's tenure were stormy. Many disputed issues raised during his administration were still not resolved as of 2018.[97] Issues included:

• disputes about the Malaysia–Singapore Points of Agreement of 1990;[97]
• disputes over water prices;[97]
• the proposed replacement of the Johor-Singapore Causeway;[97]
• the dispute over the island Pedra Branca.[97]

On Lee Kuan Yew's death in March 2015, Mahathir wrote an entry on his blog entitled "Kuan Yew and I". He expressed his sorrow and grief at the loss of Lee. He said that he often disagreed with the veteran Singaporean leader but bore him no enmity for the differences of opinion on what was good for the newborn nation to thrive. He wrote that with Lee's death, ASEAN had lost the strong leadership of both Lee as well as President Suharto of Indonesia, who had died earlier in 2008.[98] Many political analysts believe that with Lee's death, Mahathir is the last of the "Old Guard" of Southeast Asia.[99]

In April 2016, the 1st Anniversary of Lee Kuan Yew's death. Mahathir told the media that Singaporeans must value Lee Kuan Yew's contributions because he industrialised Singapore. He said: "That is one achievement that we need to recognise." With Lee, Mahathir "had no problems." He said that he does not view Lee "as an enemy and all that, but as a Singapore leader who had his own stand that was not the same with the stand of Malaysia."[100]

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mahathir has been noted as a particularly significant ally of that nation. He was influential in the establishment of an OIC summit in Karachi in 1993 to discuss the need for weapons for Bosnia during the Bosnian War. Mahathir also opened the bridge of the Malaysian-Bosnian and Herzegovinian friendship in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.[101] On 11 November 2009, he also chaired closed-door meeting of leading investors at the Malaysia Global Business Forum – Bosnia, which was also attended by then-president Haris Silajdžić.[102]

Among developing and Islamic countries, Mahathir is generally respected.[82] This is particularly due to Malaysia's relatively high economic growth as well as Mahathir's support towards liberal Muslim values.[103] and maintained strong relations with Kazakhstan.[104]

Following his appointment as prime minister, Mahathir promised to "restore the rule of law", and make elaborate and transparent investigations into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. Mahathir told the press that Najib Razak would face consequences if found guilty of wrongdoing.[148] Mahathir instructed the Department of Immigration bar Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor from leaving the country after they attempted to fly to Indonesia.[149]

Mahathir formed his seventh cabinet of 29 ministers in June 2018.[150] He abolished the unpopular Goods and Services Tax, reducing it from six to zero per cent.[151] Mahathir also vowed to cut fiscal spending by firing thousands of civil servants, cancelling an expensive Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail link and cutting back on large infrastructure projects initiated under Najib.[152] Malaysia's freedom of the press improved slightly under Mahathir's tenure, and the country's rank rose in the Press Freedom Index.[153]

On 20 June 2018, Mahathir met the father of murdered Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu and agreed that the case of her murder should be reopened.[154][155]

During an October 2018 lecture to university students in Bangkok, Thailand, Mahathir expressed resistance to expanding LGBT rights in Malaysia. Contrasting them with those in Western nations, he said "we do not accept LGBT but if they want to accept, that is their business. Don't force it on us... The institution of marriage, the institution of the family has now been disregarded in the West. Why should we follow that? Our value system is as good".[156]

Mahathir announced the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 in October 2019, which set out to increase the incomes all ethnic groups, to increase focus on the technology sector and for Malaysia to become a high income country by 2030. In the announcement, he vowed to move pass what he called the "abuse of power" and "corruption" of the previous administration to achieve this.[157][158]

Another priority of his administration was a more transparent approach to defence, and would release the country's first defense policy white paper outlining long-term plans for the country.[159]

On 21 May 2018, Mahathir meets with United States Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir

Mahathir speak about "The Future of Democracy in Asia" in Chatham House, United Kingdom

Early in his second tenure, Mahathir visited Japan and Indonesia to reaffirm good relations, and reignited a water dispute with Singapore.[160] Malaysia launched a foreign policy framework in late 2019.[161]

Mahathir condemned the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018[162] and the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani by the United States in 2020.[163]

Mahathir refused to extradite Zakir Naik, an Indian Islamic preacher who was accused of money laundering by Indian authorities.[164][165][166] Mahathir extradited Turkish national Arif Komis and his family, who were holding UNHCR refugee cards, in August 2019.[167][168] Komis was later charged by the Turkish government for being part of the Gülen movement.[169]

Mahathir received an honorary doctorate from Qatar University in December 2019.[170]

Mahathir was supportive of the 2018–19 Korean peace process. He said "the world should not treat North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with skepticism and instead learn from his new attitude towards bringing about peace".[171] In a joint press conference in Tokyo with Japan after the 2018 US-North Korea summit, Mahathir said: "We hoped for a successful outcome from the historic meeting",[172] adding that "Malaysia will re-open their embassy in North Korea as an end to the diplomatic row over the assassination of Kim Jong-nam last year".[173]

The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships were set to take place in Malaysia, but Mahathir's government announced it would ban athletes from Israel from the competition in solidarity with the Palestinian National Authority.[174] The Malaysian Paralympic Council said they were following government policy, as Malaysia bans Israeli passport holders from entering the country.[175] Mahathir stood by the decision, saying that Israel is "a criminal nation which does not obey international laws" and stressed that two countries would not establish ties.[176] On 27 January 2019, Malaysia was stripped of their hosting rights because of the decision, and on 15 April 2019, London was announced as the replacement host.[177]

Mahathir's administration was committed to retaining good relations with China,[178] but promised to review all Belt and Road Initiative projects in Malaysia that were initiated by the previous government. He characterised these as "unequal treaties", and the government suspended work on the East Coast Rail Link[178][179] and continued it after terms had been renegotiated.[180] Mahathir cancelled approximately $2.8 billion worth of deals with China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau altogether, saying Malaysia would not be able to repay its obligations to China.[179][181]

Mahathir said about China's treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, "We can condemn [China] but the fact is that the condemnation alone would not achieve anything."[182]

In 2019, Mahathir said he is in the opinion that Carrie Lam should resign as the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, fearing a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He added that Lam already knew "the consequences of rejecting [the extradition] law" as she was in a dilemma when she has to obey her Mainland masters.[183][184]

On 13 February 2020, Mahathir communicated his solidarity with Chinese President Xi Jinping as China responded to the COVID-19 outbreak.[185] The Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that the two leaders had a 30-minute phone conversation on the ongoing epidemic, and spoke of mutual understanding and close cooperation in dealing with the epidemic and to minimise its impact.[186]

On 26 September 2018, Mahathir met with the Iran President Hassan Rouhani on the occasion of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly

According to Reuters, Mahathir and other MPs had begun discussing forming a new coalition government to avoid passing the premiership to Anwar Ibrahim in late 2019, in contrast with the pre-election agreement. Mahathir felt that Anwar would be unable to command a parliamentary majority.[2] Opposition party members Muhyiddin Yassin and Azmin Ali had approached Mahathir about forming one, but Mahathir declined, refusing to work with any UMNO leaders over ongoing corruption trials.[2]

In February 2020, disagreements over who should lead the government caused the Pakatan Harapan coalition to collapse and culminated in a political crisis. MPs supporting Anwar first confronted Mahathir in a meeting and demanded a timeframe for his resignation and the handover of power to Anwar.[2] Other MPs from several political parties held their own meetings to discuss forming a new government, with Mahathir remaining Prime Minister; Mahathir himself was not present.[2][187] Around 131 MPs, including various opposition party leaders, gathered at the Sheraton Hotel, Petaling Jaya for a dinner party celebrating a "consensus" among MPs.[188][189] Anwar Ibrahim later confirmed that the attempt to create a new governing coalition made up of BERSATU and a faction of the PKR, adding that he had been "betrayed".[190][191]

Anwar, Mahathir and other Pakatan leaders met the following day to seek clarification; Mahathir said he was not involved in the attempt to form a new governing coalition.[2][192][193]

Mahathir submitted his resignation to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah of Pahang on 24 February 2020, refusing to work with UMNO leaders in a new government.[2][194][195] The Agong accepted Mahathir's resignation, and appointed him as interim prime minister until a replacement could be appointed.[196][197][198] BERSATU President Muhyiddin Yassin declared the party's withdrawal from the Pakatan Harapan coalition, causing a loss of parliamentary majority; Mahathir resigned from the party in response.[2]

On 29 February, the Agong appointed Muhyiddin prime minister, determining that he was "most likely to have received the trust of the majority" of MPs. Muhyiddin was sworn in as prime minister the following day.[199] Mahathir challenged this, but his attempts to contact the Agong to seek legitimacy for his support were not answered. He left the Prime Minister's office an hour before Muhyiddin was sworn in.[2]

A strident critic of Israel, Mahathir has been accused of antisemitism[219] since at least as far back as in The Malay Dilemma in which he wrote that "Jews are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively".[220] On August 12, 1983, Mahathir claimed in a speech that Jews control the international media.[221] In March 1994, he banned the screening of Schindler's List on the grounds that it was anti-German, pro-Jewish propaganda.[221] During the collapse of the ringgit and the economic crisis in 1997, he made a series of remarks blaming Jews, a Jewish "agenda," and "an international Jewish conspiracy" attempting to destroy the economies of Muslim countries.[221][222] During an Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit held in Kuala Lumpur in 2003, he accused Jews of "ruling the world by proxy" and getting "others to fight and die for them".[218] In 2012 he claimed he was "glad to be labeled antisemitic"[223] and in a 2018 BBC interview he repeated similar statements, as well as disputing the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.[224] In 2019, when asked why he had previously claimed that Jews are "inclined towards money" he responded that he had Jewish friends, and that "they are not like the other Jews, that's why they are my friends."[225] Mahathir has defended his comments about Jews as an exercise of free speech, and by claiming that "the Jews do a lot of wrong things which force us to pass comment."[226][227][228]

On 29 October 2020, in the aftermath of the 2020 Nice stabbing, Mahathir posted remarks on his blog. Regarding the murder of Samuel Paty, Mahathir said it was against "the teachings of Islam", and "the killing is not an act that as a Muslim I would approve". He also said: "The French in the course of their history has killed millions of people. Many were Muslims. Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past. But by and large the Muslims have not applied the ‘eye for an eye’ law. Muslims don't. The French shouldn't. Instead the French should teach their people to respect other people's feeling." Mahathir's post was later circulated on his Twitter account. His tweet was later labeled by Twitter for "glorifying violence".[229]

Mahathir was also criticized for stoking tensions and hatred by the former Australian ambassador to France Brendan Berne, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, and French secretary of state for digital affairs Cédric O; the latter of whom called for the suspension of Mahathir's Twitter account. Berne also demanded context regarding Mahathir's comments and stated that Mahathir comments do not represent Muslims. Malaysian cleric and politician Fathul Bari Mat Jahya condemned Mahathir's remarks, calling them "reprehensible tribalism" and declaring that they contradicted Islamic teachings. He also urged Mahathir to take heart the lesson behind the Christchurch mosque shootings. Former Prime Minister Najib Razak opined that Mahathir's words had been taken out of context but advocated removing Mahathir's social media accounts "before he does more damage."

Mahathir responded that his comments were taken out of context and he was not "promoting massacre of the French." After Facebook and Twitter removed his posts, Mahathir criticised the social media platforms' decision to remove his posts, accusing them of shielding those who had offended Muslims and made fun of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[230]

In college, he met his future wife, Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, a fellow medical student. They were married in 1956. He and Siti Hasmah had their first child, Marina, in 1957, before conceiving four others, Mirzan, Mokhzani, Melinda, and Mukhriz, as well as adopting two more, Maizura, and Mazhar over the following 28 years.[231][232]

Mahathir underwent a heart bypass operation in 2007, following two heart attacks over the previous two years. He had undergone the same operation after his heart attack in 1989.[233] After the 2007 operation, he suffered a chest infection. He was hospitalised for treatment of another chest infection in 2010.[114][234][235][236]

On 16 December 2021, Mahathir was admitted to the Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) for a medical check-up. In a statement, IJN said Mahathir will undergo a full medical check-up and further observation, adding that he is expected to be in IJN for the next few days.[237][238][239] On 23 December, Mahathir was discharged.[240][241][242][243]

On 7 January 2022, Mahathir underwent an unspecified elective medical procedure at the Malaysian National Heart Institute (IJN) and was discharged six days later.[244][245] He was readmitted to the IJN in late January 2022 and placed in the coronary care unit.[246][247][248][249] Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob arrived at 5.34pm along with his security detail to visit Mahathir.[250] On 26 January, his daughter, Marina Mahathir, said he was still recovering in hospital and had been moved to a regular ward from intensive care.[251][252] On 5 February, Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) had confirmed that he has discharged and having rehabilitation and continue to follow-up of his medical treatment.[253][254][255][256]

On 31 August 2022, Mahathir tested positive for COVID-19. He was admitted to the National Heart Institute for observation for several days.[257][258] On 4 September, Mahathir was discharged after receiving treatment.[259][260][261]