The Political Movement of Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian Former Prime Minister (2003-2016)

Abstract

       An article titled “The Political Movement of Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian Former Prime Minister (2003-2016)” aims to understand that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s the political movement after step down as Prime Minister during 2003 until 2016 and study about what are the factors that cause of his the political movement and how does the political movement that effect to Malaysian politics. Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was a prominent political figure, whose vision and dedication contributed greatly to the country’s rapid economic development. After Dr Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister in 2003, his successors initiated significant changes in state administration and diminished his grandiose projects which were known as Dr Mahathir’s “political legacy”. Dr Mahathir Mohamad, therefore, decided to return to the political realm to protect his legacy. Dr Mahathir’s recent political movement was an effort to remove his hand-picked successors from power. Nonetheless, his attempts to bring down his successors faced with various difficulties as the new leaders managed to employ the state mechanism to protect their roles and craftily counterattack Dr Mahathir. This manoeuvre utilised the same method that Dr Mahathir used to bring down his political opponents during his tenure as Prime Minister. Dr Mahathir sought new strategies to continue his political movement such as using a weblog to communicate with the people, reconciling with his opponents and NGOs, and forming an opposition party. It is believed that his political movement threatened the former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s credibility and eventually forced him to step down. Dr Mahathir’s movement also brought major obstacles in politics and state administration to the current Prime Minister Najib Razak.