Exclusive | Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad on why he’s not ‘anti-China’

As Malaysia’s number one dissident these days, the country’s 91-year-old former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has grown accustomed to daily insults flung his way by the political establishment.

But the stalwart politician who held the premiership for 22 years finds one particular barb unfathomable: the notion that he is “anti-China”.

Trade with Beijing jumped from US$289 million when he took office in 1981 to US$20 billion by the time he stepped down in 2003. China is currently Malaysia’s top trading partner, with total trade between them standing at US$54.5 billion a year.

“It does not make sense, it’s a political label used by my opponents. In fact, I have defended China all over,” Mahathir said in a wide-ranging interview with This Week in Asia. “I welcome Chinese foreign direct investment [FDI]. In fact, I was the one who originally encouraged Chinese investment in Malaysia. I have shown I am not afraid of China.”

His sharp criticism of some aspects of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s China policy, however, has emerged as a key talking point in the country as it readies itself for an electoral battle this year that will pit the two political titans against each other.

Mahathir shocked the country last year when he quit the ruling United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), which he had stewarded for decades, to join hands with the opposition in a bid to oust Najib.

Mahathir and his new allies accuse Najib, 63, of graft, economic mismanagement and a foolhardy embrace of China at the expense of the national interest.