This is a Malay name; the name "Mohamad" is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, "Mahathir". Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad (IPA: [ma'ħɑ.ðiɽ bin mʊħɑmmæd̚]; born December 20, 1925) was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest-serving Prime Minister, and one of the longest-serving leaders in Asia.During his term in office, he was credited for engineering Malaysia's rapid modernization and promoting non-individualistic "Asian values". Mahathir is also known for his criticisms of western and developed countries.During his administration, he was considered as one of Asia's most influential leaders. Mahathir is also noted in the Western world as an outspoken critic of Western civilization.
Mahathir was born in Alor Star, the capital of the northern Malaysian state of Kedah, the youngest of nine children of a schoolteacher and a housewife. His father, Mohamad Iskandar, was of half-Indian origin, being the son of a Malayalee Muslim (who migrated from Kerala) and a Malay mother, while Mahathir's own mother, Wan Tampawan, was Malay.
During World War II, he sold pisang goreng (banana fritters) and other snacks to supplement his family income during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Mahathir attended a Malay vernacular school before continuing his education at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Star. Mahathir then attended the King Edward VII Medical College (the predecessor of present-day National University of Singapore) in Singapore, where he edited a medical student magazine called The Cauldron; he also contributed to the The Straits Times newspaper anonymously under the nickname "Che Det". Mahathir was also President of the Muslim Society in the college.Upon graduation in 1953, Mahathir joined the then Malayan government service as a medical officer. He married Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali—a fellow doctor and former classmate in...