As Mahathir gets set to host his second Apec summit, will it be a defining moment for his legacy at home and abroad?

Just like in 1998, the world economy is not in great shape, a US president has been impeached and Mahathir is hosting an Apec summit. This time, he appears more convinced of the forum’s value and is set to take a hands-on approach in shaping its post-2020 vision

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (right) and Hong Kong’s then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa wave on arrival at the Apec leaders’ retreat at Cyberjaya, south of Kuala Lumpur, on November 17, 1998. Mahathir is set to host another Apec summit in 2020. Photo: AP

Published: 3:00pm, 22 Dec 2019Updated: 9:48pm, 22 Dec 2019

When Mahathir Mohamad hosts 20 other Apec leaders in Kuala Lumpur in November next year, he will make unusual history – he will be the first leader to personally host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit twice, first in 1998, and again in 2020.

Such is the extraordinary longevity of Mahathir as a political force, not just in Malaysia, but across the region. He was a controversial “force of nature” then, and at 94, he remains so now.

As he launches Malaysia’s chairmanship of Apec 2020 while standing in Cyberjaya, the very same multimedia super corridor where he welcomed Apec leaders the first time round in 1998, the temptation is irresistible to review what has changed and what has been achieved in the intervening 21 years.

Through 1998, Malaysia hosted Apec under the dark shadow of the Asian financial crisis, which had inflicted particular harm on Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. As a paper from the Australian parliamentary archives recalls: “Apec has not found it easy to develop a credible and relevant response.”

While the backdrop to Apec 2020 is not as melodramatic, the challenges facing the region more than a decade after the 2008 global financial crisis remain a source of active anxiety, with unchanged demands for Apec to give a credible and relevant response.

Mahathir is set to provide interesting impetus. Throughout his long political career, he has been consistently controversial both at home and abroad. His famous 1970 book, The Malay Dilemma, was banned in Malaysia until 1981 when he first became prime minister.