He only wanted to be a clerk (III)

But they didn’t get their own place immediately; rather, they stayed with Dr Mahathir’s parents.  To some extent, that culture (of a wife living with her in-laws) still endures in Malaysia as it does in other places like Nigeria.    It was around this period that Mahathir did what some people termed radical; he hired […]

But they didn’t get their own place immediately; rather, they stayed with Dr Mahathir’s parents.  To some extent, that culture (of a wife living with her in-laws) still endures in Malaysia as it does in other places like Nigeria.   

It was around this period that Mahathir did what some people termed radical; he hired a local Chinese as his driver.   Before then, it was unheard of. Nobody hired a local Chinese for such duties – after all, they were economically superior to the Malays.  You could hire Malay drivers, even Chinese from other countries but not the Malayan Chinese. Mahathir’s action might have been an innocent one, but it’s novel nature pushed people to infer that he was actually making a statement – albeit, a subtle one.   

More of such statements were to come and most of them weren’t subtle at all. His pen and his mouth spawn radical ideas that got him into trouble with even his Malay compatriots.  At a point, the first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman requested the party to choose between him and Mahathir.  The leaders stood by their prime minister and kicked Mahathir out of the party.

But that friction was many years from happening. Now, he’s still a young doctor serving his patients from all the races and socio-economic status with equal energy and kindness.  However, what’s apparent even then was that for a shy medical doctor, Mahathir wasn’t exactly overburdened by what people say about him and pushed forth without minding who stood in the way.  He recently described that as “water on a duck’s back.”

We have a few individuals like that in Nigeria; leaders that will bulldoze their way through to their vision no matter what people say or do. A ready example is Obasanjo.  As a president, he had that I’ll-knock-you-down-if –you-stand-in-my-way approach whenever he was in the spirit – the patriotic spirit, that is.

However, while Obasanjo was sometimes on holidays from criticism due to his flashes of good work, Mahathir received fire from all sides throughout his tenure. His Malay brethren carped because he’s not Muslim enough and rate Anwar Ibrahim, his former deputy, higher in that department.  Other races criticize him for his tenacious stance on shoring up the economic status of the Malays.

But pick any Malaysian, the young or the old, from the airport or from the street, Indian, Malay or Chinese and ask him what kind of a leader Mahathir was. He will tell you Mahathir was a great leader, that he developed their country and he was instrumental in bringing them to where they are today “but”. Yes, they always have a ‘but’.

When I asked Dr Mahathir of this seeming ingratitude of his people, he told me that his people are very fortunate unlike some people in Africa or even their own Asian neighbours, therefore take many things for granted.  But Malaysians have not always been fortunate.  They lived through Japanese occupation, they faced decades of communists uprising, racial riots of 1969, crowdedness in their higher institutions and so forth.  And it was during Mahathir’s tenure that most of the problems, particularly the ones concerning economic prosperity and education were resolved.

Back in Alor Setar, the young couple continued to live their idyllic life in Mahathir’s childhood house while they practiced medicine. But they eventually got their own place. It was here that the first child, Marina, was born in June 1957. She was followed by several other Ms.  Mirzan the first son was born in 1958, Melinda was adopted in 1960, Mokhzani was born in 61, and Mukhriz in 1964.

The eldest daughter does human rights work, and like her father, is also a writer.  She writes a regular column for the Star newspaper. Mukhriz has his father’s business acumen and does well in advertising.

While at Alor Setar, the couple didn’t restrict their medical services to the hospital; they were also involved in voluntary work. They visited patients in their dwellings: estates, villages and wherever they were needed.

But, Dr Mahathir surprised everyone by announcing that he was going into private practice. Again the people were not used to voluntary resignation of senior government officials from their stable well paying jobs.  Some people admired his courage many more thought he was crazy.