Malaysia’s Mahathir at 100: Israel’s genocide in Gaza will not be forgotten

Putrajaya, Malaysia – When Malaysia’s erstwhile Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad turned 100 earlier this year, helium marked his day by pursuing a lifelong regular of discipline: helium ate little, worked a lot, and did not succumb to the lure of rest.

“The main happening is that I enactment each the time. I don’t remainder myself,” Mahathir told Al Jazeera.

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“I americium ever utilizing my caput and body. Keep your caput and assemblage active, past you unrecorded longer,” helium said.

From a table astatine his bureau successful Putrajaya city, southbound of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, helium spent his centenary similar astir days: penning his thoughts connected the Malaysian economy, the country’s governmental concern and unfolding satellite events, peculiarly the concern successful Gaza.

Sitting down with Al Jazeera for an interrogation aft recovering from a spell of exhaustion astir the clip of his birthday, Mahathir predicted that Israel’s ruthlessness against the Palestinian colonisation of Gaza would beryllium etched into satellite history.

Israel’s sidesplitting of astir 66,000 Palestinians successful Gaza, the bulk women and children, volition beryllium remembered for generations, perchance for “centuries”, Mahathir said.

“Gaza is terrible. They killed large mothers… babies conscionable born, young people, boys and girls, men and women, the sick and the poor… How tin this beryllium forgotten?” helium asked.

“It volition not beryllium forgotten for possibly centuries,” Mahathir said.

Describing the war successful Gaza arsenic a genocide that parallelled the sidesplitting of Muslims during the warfare successful Bosnia successful the aboriginal 1990s and the Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II, Mahathir said helium was confounded that the radical of Israel, who had experienced genocide, could, successful turn, perpetrate a genocide.

“I thought radical who suffered similar that would not privation to sojourn it connected different people,” helium said. Victims of a genocide should “not privation to privation their destiny to befall different people”.

However, successful the lawsuit of Israel, helium was wrong, helium said.

Malaysia’s then-interim person Mahathir Mohamad attends a committee connected the workout of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, successful Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, successful February 2020 [Vincent Thian/AP]

At the tallness of his powerfulness successful the 1980s and 1990s, Mahathir earned a estimation connected the satellite signifier arsenic an outspoken dependable for the Global South, and a vocal professional of Western imperialism and its modern exploitation of processing countries done flows of fiscal capital.

A staunch and lifelong protagonist of the Palestinian cause, Mahathir was besides roundly criticised for making “anti-Semitic” statements alongside his tirades against the West, peculiarly the United States.

But, arsenic helium told Al Jazeera, helium had sympathised profoundly with the Jewish radical erstwhile the horrors of the Nazis became known aft World War II.

Israelis, helium present says, “did not larn thing from their experience”.

“They privation the aforesaid happening that happened to them, they privation to bash it to the Arabs,” helium said.

Now, the lone “reasonable” mode to code the struggle betwixt Israel and the Palestinian radical is to instrumentality a two-state solution, helium added. But Mahathir said that specified a solution – which received a large boost erstwhile Palestinian statehood was precocious recognised by Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the United Kingdom, among different countries – is inactive a precise agelong mode off, and helium would not unrecorded to spot it.

“In my lifetime, no. Too abbreviated a time,” helium said.

China: ‘Number 1 state successful the world’

A subsister of three bosom attacks who pulled disconnected a stunning governmental comeback successful Malaysian nationalist beingness erstwhile helium was implicit 90 years of age, Mahathir held powerfulness for a combined full of 24 years, and earned himself what is apt to beryllium the unassailable rubric arsenic Malaysia’s longest-serving leader.

When helium was calved connected July 10, 1925, successful the bluish Malaysian authorities of Kedah, the king of England was George V, the gramps of the precocious Queen Elizabeth II, and Malaysia was a British colony known arsenic Malaya.

He entered authorities successful the 1960s and became premier curate from 1981 to 2003 earlier stepping down, for the archetypal time.

He past made an astonishing instrumentality to powerfulness successful 2018, erstwhile helium led a conjugation of absorption parties to bushed the long-governing Barisan Nasional enactment to beryllium re-elected premier curate astatine the sprightly property of 92, becoming the world’s oldest person arsenic a result.

But he stepped down nether a cloud for the past clip successful 2020 aft losing enactment owed to governmental machinations from wrong his ain governmental party, Bersatu.

A aesculapian doc by training, adjacent Mahathir’s critics acknowledged that helium laid the economical foundations that transformed Malaysia’s cultivation system of the 1960s into the modern industrialised authorities of today, with the iconic duplicate Petronas Towers crowning the skyline of its thriving modern superior city, Kuala Lumpur.

Despite having lived past the property erstwhile most politicians would person retreated from the spotlight, Mahathir astatine 100 remains arsenic vocal, crisp and acerbic arsenic ever.

He besides had immoderate astonishing memories of a bygone China and predictions astir the aboriginal of the United States to share.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad works astatine his bureau successful Putrajaya, Malaysia, successful 2020 [File: Prime Minister Office via AP]

Among his prized recollections are his impressions of visiting China successful the 1970s, erstwhile it was “very poor” and determination were fewer cars connected the streets.

Being Malaysia’s lawman premier curate astatine the time, authorities successful Beijing rolled retired the reddish carpet and their “Red Flag” exemplary car to chauffeur him around, helium said.

“It was a precise large Chinese car which China produced themselves. They called it The Red Flag,” Mahathir said, recounting however that conveyance was among the archetypal to beryllium independently produced by the Chinese.

Fast guardant to today, China’s system has travel a precise agelong way, and truthful excessively has its thriving car industry, which is giving Western-produced cars a tally for their money, peculiarly with electrical vehicles.

China’s surpassing of the US to go the “number 1 state successful the world” is inevitable, helium said, owed to its immense home marketplace and hard-working population.

“It volition instrumentality China 10 years to drawback up with America. After that, China volition overtake America,” Mahathir said.

“China by itself is bigger than Europe and America. It’s a immense market. It is rather rich. And Chinese radical are precise astute successful business,” helium said, recounting how, arsenic a youth, helium witnessed caller Chinese migrants to Malaysia instrumentality connected “very dense work” to gain a living. Within a procreation oregon two, those families had managed to amended their lives, springiness their children a bully education, and immoderate of their grandchildren had gone connected to go rather wealthy.

‘America volition not beryllium capable to vie with the remainder of the world’

Contrasting modern China with the US nether the presidency of Donald Trump, Mahathir said that Trump’s “tariff war” was “very damaging”, and his plans to bring accumulation backmost to the US would summation costs and pave the mode for China’s further rise.

“[Trump] wants companies to displacement their factories to America. The wages are precise precocious there. The enactment cognition determination volition beryllium precise antithetic from Chinese workers, who tin enactment for hours and bash the work,” helium said.

“American workers cannot bash that. Anything produced successful America successful the future, if they bash determination the factories there, volition beryllium costly,” helium added.

“America volition not beryllium capable to vie with the remainder of the world.”

Importantly, Trump does not person the clip to travel done connected his promised economical vision, arsenic it would instrumentality a minimum of 3 to 8 years to determination manufacturing facilities to the US, helium said.

“And Trump volition not beryllium president immoderate much aft 3 years,” helium added.

Despite being 100 years aged , Mahathir walks unaided, exercises daily, goes to enactment each time and receives visitors.

He uses societal media and travels extracurricular of Malaysia whenever helium receives invitations to beryllium a impermanent speaker.

The cardinal to longevity, Mahathir said, is to enactment physically and mentally progressive and not overeat .

“Don’t devour truthful much,” helium told Al Jazeera.

“My mother’s champion proposal to maine was, ‘When the nutrient tastes nice, halt eating.'”

Malaysia’s past Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during an interrogation with Reuters successful Putrajaya, Malaysia, successful 2018 [File: Lai Seng Sin/Reuters]