‘Chinese by nature are very good businesspeople’: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s exclusive interview in full

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad spoke candidly to the South China Morning Post on a wide range of issues in his first interview with international media in 2019. Mahathir is approaching the end of his first year in office, his second stint as premier after his opposition coalition won the elections in a stunning victory last May. He previously led Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and now, at 93, he is the world’s oldest prime minister. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.

Q: What has the past year been like for you, and what has been the biggest challenge your second time around as prime minister?

A: One year would include the period we were not the government. Because we formed the government only for the last 10 months. But during these 10 months, the work of rearranging things and correcting all the mistakes of the past, dealing with the high debt that was incurred by the previous government, has been very, very difficult. At the same time, of course, the people are expecting everything to be done overnight. So we are in a little bit of a quandary because the expectations of the people are that when the new government takes over, everything will be done immediately. But it is not possible, and we are having a tough time trying to restore the administrative machinery, and also the economy and finance of the country.

Q: What are the economic prospects for Malaysia in 2019?

A: Growth has been good. Some of the figures [show GDP growth of] 4.5 per cent, 4.7 per cent, which is good for Malaysia. But there seems to be a disconnect between the economic performance of the country as a whole and the well-being of the people. The people still feel the pressure of higher prices and things like that. And we are not able to give them the service that they used to get from the previous government. Because the previous government tends to distribute money freely.

We don’t have the money so we find it difficult to tell the people, sorry, we don’t have the money, we can’t give you the kind of support of the previous government. You must understand that what was done by the previous government was wrong. But the people still feel that by now we should have done something that will make them feel better off. But as far as the economy is concerned, we are doing well. We are growing, still growing.

Q: You were the first world leader to confirm your attendance at the Belt and Road summit in April. What message will you be bringing to Beijing?

A: Whatever may be our attitude towards China, we have to admit that China is a big power. It is a regional power and we need to deal with them. We need to understand their policies and strategies and we have to make adjustments so that we can gain some benefit from China’s policies. So I am going there because I want to listen to what they are saying about the Belt and Road and at the same time, given a chance, I would like to explain Malaysia’s attitude towards this policy of China.