"Malaysia is our country, we are born here, we grow up here, make a living here and here we will die. Whether this country is good or bad is because of us. We can choose. Choose wisely because our lives are at stake."
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD

(1981 – 2003)

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad opened the country to foreign investment, reformed taxation, reduced trade barriers, the privatisation of numerous state-owed enterprise, besides creating a world-class physical infrastructure. He also sought to bridge Malaysia’s ethnic divides by increasing general prosperity. In 1991, he launched the New Development Policy, which emphasised industrial and commercial development and the elimination of poverty. Under Tun Dr. Mahathir’s leadership, Malaysia developed into one of the most prosperous and dynamic economies in Southeast Asia, with a burgeoning industrial sector, an expanding middle class and enhanced quality of life. Malaysia also played a more active role in the international arena, acting as the voice for developing nations in Asia and Africa. Always with one eye on the future, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad unveiled Vision 2020 in 1991, a blueprint for Malaysia’s journey to becoming a developed economy and a mature democracy by the year 2020.