Mahathir: a master of progress and offense
International Herald Tribune
October 20, 2003
Thomas Fuller

For those who have spent some time observing Mahathir bin Mohamad, Malaysia's prime minister, his comments last week about Jews ruling the world by proxy were perhaps not surprising.

Mahathir has been well known during his two decades in power for his offensive comments and sarcastic tone.

During the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990's, he once called his foreign critics "cockerels crowing arrogantly but with the tail-feathers mired in feces."

And he famously called George Soros, the American financier and philanthropist, a "moron."

But the recent comments, widely criticized by leaders around the world, rekindled the mystery and paradox of Mahathir bin Mohamad.

It is difficult for outsiders to understand why a politician who has tirelessly — and successfully — transformed Malaysia from a nation of tin mines and rubber plantations into a manufacturing powerhouse repeatedly tarnishes his legacy with outbursts.

It is also bizarre that a man who runs a country so dependent on foreign investment and tourism consistently insults the very foreigners who helped bring prosperity to his country.

In the past, he has poured scorn on "ethnic Europeans" who he said were keen to "recolonize" Malaysia. "Many among them are of the opinion that Muslims cannot possibly succeed, more so when their skin color is brown," Mahathir said during a keynote speech to his party in 1999.

On another occasion, the prime minister called Americans, who for years were the largest investors in Malaysia, "dominators."

The paradox of Mahathir is that despite his anti-Semitic and anti-Western diatribes he is in fact a voice of moderation in the Muslim world. He has spent his political career fighting religious fundamentalism and preaching tolerance and multiculturalism — necessary in a country made up of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Dayaks, Orang Asli and various other ethnic groups.

If it were not for his acerbic and offensive outbursts, Mahathir might be a Muslim role model: leader of what is arguably the Muslim world's most impressive success story. Two generations ago Kuala Lumpur was so undeveloped it looked like a giant botanical garden. Today it is a cosmopolitan capital of skyscrapers. Mahathir is undoubtedly different from the kleptocratic contemporaries of his generation, like Ferdinand Marcos or Suharto. Even his harshest critics never accused him of being motivated by massive personal enrichment.

During the late 1990's there was a feeling among some in the Malaysian elite, including some of the prime minister's advisers, that Mahathir needed a good public relations agency to tone down his fiery rhetoric. This was especially the case after his best-known insults — those targeting Soros.

In 1997, Mahathir blamed the Asian financial crisis on Jews — and in particular on Soros, who Mahathir pointed out happened to be Jewish. "We are Muslims, and the Jews are not happy to see Muslims progress," the prime minister said. "We may suspect that they have an agenda, but we do not want to accuse them."

Unlike his comments last week, Mahathir probably never intended the remarks on Soros to be published. He was addressing a group of supporters in a small city far from the Malaysian capital — and far from the ears and tape recorders of foreign reporters.

The comments were played down or ignored by the Malaysian press. But they grew into a controversy after reports appeared in the international media.

At the time, Mahathir's words were explained in the context of his extreme frustration, watching as the country that he built was devastated by Asia's economic crisis. He may have also been trying to score political points among a crowd of mostly rural Muslims for whom Jews were a far-off bogeyman.

That was the Soros episode. Yet Mahathir's comments last week are more puzzling. These days, Mahathir has much less reason to feel frustrated: the Malaysian economy is in good shape. This was probably Mahathir's last major speech before his retirement at the end of this month. He made the comments at a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest Muslim group. The television cameras were rolling, and dozens of leaders of the Muslim world were in attendance.

"The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million," Mahathir said. "But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them." He added that "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews."

The comments were condemned around the world, including at a summit meeting of European leaders in Brussels. "The prime minister used expressions that were gravely offensive," said Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, speaking on behalf of the European Union. The comments, Frattini said, were "very strongly anti-Semitic" and "strongly counter to principles of tolerance, dialogue and understanding between the Western world and the Islamic world."

The paradox for Mahathir once again was that the overall point of the speech was that Muslims needed to modernize and eschew violence. This time, Mahathir supporters might lament that it is too late to call a public relations agency.

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