Mahathir bin Mohamad

Autor: Mahathir bin Mohamad
Rok: 1925-

Biogr./Hist. údaje: Ministerský předseda Malajsie v letech 1981-2003, původně lékař.
Zdroj: Autoritní databáze Národní knihovny ČR

Tun Dato' Sri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad (Jawi:محضير بن محمد; pronounced [maˈhaðɪr bɪn moˈhamad]; born 10 July 1925) was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest-serving Prime Minister. His political career spanned almost 40 years.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 the then Prime Minister, 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 in support of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the interests of Bosnians in the Balkans conflict of the 1990s.He remains 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. His son, Mukhriz Mahathir, is the Chief Minister of Kedah.