Mahathir bin Mohamad Quotes

11 Sourced Quotes

History should remember Blair and Bush as the killers of children or as the lying prime minister and president.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
We also do not call each other "Bapak This" or "Bapak That, not like in the past. We now only hear people calling "Bapak" (father) at home.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
I believe that the country should have a strong government but not too strong. A two-thirds majority like I enjoyed when I was prime minister is sufficient but a 90% majority is too strong.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
When one is short, one should stand on a box to get a better view. The Twin Towers is to our ego [sic] what the box is to the shorties.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
The Malays are spiritually inclined, tolerant and easy-going. The non-Malays, and especially the Chinese, are materialistic, aggressive and have an appetite for work. For equality to come about, it is necessary that these strikingly contrasting races adjust to each other.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
Even if I were to kiss and hug Anwar Ibrahim in public, they will say there is a rift because this is what they want to see.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
This country stands out like a sore thumb trying to impose its European values in Asia as if the good old days when people can shoot aborigines without caring about human rights.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
To be known you have to be a little bit nasty. In any case, I'm nasty only toward governments. I'm not nasty towards business people.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
Developing countries like Malaysia should have a say in changing the world financial system since we have faced the problems that it has caused.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
Knowledge has always been important, of course. The ancient Egyptians did not raise the stones for the pyramids relying on the incantations of their gods. The waters in the irrigation canals of the great Indus Civilisation did not flow according to the laws of ignorance. Knowledge has always been power and wealth.

Mahathir bin Mohamad