The first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, he said, did not know how to develop the country. Mahathir said he managed to get independence for the country but failed to list measures to help the country grow.
“He was rejected by people because the Malays said they did not get anything. We are what we are, still poor,” he said during an interview with Great People Television.
The title of the talk was Leadership Reflections and Perceptions with Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir said the Malays were angry with Tunku although he wanted to do good for the country. Mahathir also said Tunku described himself as “the happiest prime minister in the world” because Malaysia did not undergo any revolution to get independence.
He said the second prime minister, Abdul Razak Hussein encountered problems while heading the National Operations Council (Mageran) after the May 13 riots.
“The government was weak. Even though Perikatan (the Alliance) had won the elections, it won with a small majority, and couldn’t form a government in Penang, Perak and Selangor,” he said, adding that this caused uncertainties.
Razak then invited the opposition to join the government to have a strong administration and introduced the New Economic Policy to uplift and benefit the Malays.
“How it was to be done, that was not spelled out,” Mahathir said.
Razak also had to change the political party’s name from Perikatan to Barisan Nasional because of the unity government.
“(After the changes) he was able to lead a strong government,” Mahathir said.
According to Mahathir, the third prime minister, Hussein Onn “did not function well because he was unhealthy and sick most of the time”.
Hussein then eventually appointed Mahathir as his deputy before resigning.
“I am grateful. Later, I wanted his son (Hishammuddin) to be the prime minister. But Hussein did not stay long enough to effect any change in the government,” he added.
During Mahathir’s 22-year tenure from 1981 to 2003, he knew he would be prime minister as long as he satisfied the needs of the rakyat.
After independence, he said people remained poor due to weak business activities. Due to that, Mahathir said he became business-friendly to create jobs by building infrastructure such as highways, railway tracks, airports, ports, among others.
He said he was called a dictator and there were claims that he practised cronyism but none of this was proven.
His deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi then took over but earned Mahathir’s ire when he “did not keep to his promise” to continue with the double rail tracking and the “crooked bridge” projects between Malaysia and Singapore.
“After one week, he changed his mind. But he had promised to continue the double tracking (project),” Mahathir said.
He said he had been happy when Najib Razak took over from Abdullah in 2009.
“I was very happy. I thought he would be like his father but within a short time I realised he was not,” Mahathir said, referring to Najib’s “cash is king” approach and the 1MDB scandal.
He described Najib as a bad prime minister who destroyed the country’s finances and administration.
Mahathir became the 7th prime minister after GE14, but lasted only for 22 months with his right-hand man in Bersatu, Muhyiddin Yassin, taking over.
Mahathir also spoke on ex-prime minister Muhyiddin’s failure in handling the Covid-19 crisis, which led to over 20,000 new cases being reported daily.
As for future leaders, he said he would not be endorsing anyone and it was up to the people to choose clean and deserving leaders.
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