HISTORY OF MAHATHIR S/O ISKANDAR KUTTY @ MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMED

 Facts about Mahathir that you need to know

- Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamed’s real name is Mahathir s/o Iskandar Kutty. He was born Mahathir s/o Iskandar Kutty and named Mahathir s/o Iskandar Kutty @Mahathir Mohamed.

- Dr Mahathir was born on December 20, 1925, in Alor Star, the capital of the northern state of Kedah.

- Dr Mahathir started life NOT as a Malay but a Malayali – (Karala Couchin) the people of Kerala in south INDIA, where his father (Iskandar Kutty) came from.

Kerala, India Homeland of Dr. Mahathir's fore-fathers

-  His father (Iskandar Kutty) was a school teacher of Indian origin, specifically Malayalee (Mamak) (people who speak Malayalam, not to be confused with Malay)

-  His father (Iskandar Kutty) (a Mamak) migrated from the southern state of Kerala, India, while his mother (Wan Tampawan) a Kedah-born, was a Malay.

- . Despite being only half Malay and having acknowledged his Indian heritage, Dr Mahathir generally considers himself to be Malay, and is known for the use of fiery rhetoric designed to invoke feelings of Malay nationalism, i.e. the term Ketuanan Melayu, or “Malay Supremacy/Lordship.

-  At university in Singapore, Dr Mahathir was listed as an INDIAN.

-  Dr Mahathir had kept hidden his little secret – that he is an Indian Muslim (Mamak).

- Dr Mahathir has been quick to promote himself as the embodiment of “Asian” identity and values, with diatribes against the west, usually couched in racial terms. Yet, despite his trumpeting of Asian identity, Dr Mahathir appears ASHAMED to admit his Indian heritage.

- ‘In his new book, A New Deal for Asia, he writes about his father in such a way as to imply that he was a Malay dedicated to the improvement of his fellow Malays rather than the hard-working Indian immigrant and government servant that he was. No mention of Dr Mahathir’s Indian Muslim background ever appears in the media. The subject is taboo.’ -Philip Bowring

- Dr Mahathir is the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, which he held for 22 years. From 16 July 1981 – 31 October 2003

- Dr Mahathir is Malaysia and Asia’s longest serving Prime Minister.

- Dr Mahathir’s political involvement is filled with events and significance where he started being active in 1945. He joined the Umno in 1946.

- Dr Mahathir was first elected into the Parliament in the 1964 general elections via the Kota Setar Selatan seat with more than 60% majority votes. The following elections (1969) saw him losing the seat by 989 votes after declaring that he did not need to win through Chinese votes.

- Following the race riots of 13 May 1969, Dr Mahathir wrote a letter, (which was widely distributed) to the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, criticizing the manner in which Tunku Abdul Rahman had handled the country’s administration favoring the ethnic Chinese. For doing that, he was expelled from Umno.

- Some of the more controversial happenings under Dr Mahathir‘s leadership include removing of the veto power and the Royal immunity from prosecution. Before he took on this action, passing of any bill of law required royal consent but with what he took on, royal assent is considered legal after a 30 days period.

- Dr Mahathir was also known to be responsible for the removal of Tun Salleh Abas, the Lord President of the Supreme Court together with 3 other Supreme Court Justices prior to the investigation of misconduct hearing of Umno, the party that he is also the president.

- Dr Mahathir announced his resignation from UMNO on 19 May 2008 & 29 Febuary 2016.

Note:

“MAMAK” a term (derived from a TAMIL word meaning UNCLE) used in Malaysia to describe the Tamil Muslim community (Wikipedia) but Mahathir not a mamak because his Karala Couchin?!!!