The Malays are spiritually inclined, tolerant and easy-going. The non-Malays, and especially the Chinese, are materialistic, aggressive and have an appetite for work. For equality to come about, it is necessary that these strikingly contrasting races adjust to each other.

Mahathir Mohamad

Categorized in : Race Chinese Materialistic

We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right.

Mahathir Mohamad

mistake needs thinking

Knowledge has always been important, of course. The ancient Egyptians did not raise the stones for the pyramids relying on the incantations of their gods. The waters in the irrigation canals of the great Indus Civilisation did not flow according to the laws of ignorance. Knowledge has always been power and wealth.

Mahathir Mohamad

ignorance law knowledge

If you can't be famous, at least you can be notorious.

Mahathir Mohamad

notorious ifs

I not only think but also look and study things carefully. When I travel around, I look at things carefully, make comparisons of what I see. I don't accept things at face value, you cannot trust what you hear or see. Don't jump to conclusions without thinking.

Mahathir Mohamad

faces looks thinking

I'm brash and abrasive but that's because I've noticed when people are nice and polite they never get anywhere.

Mahathir Mohamad

polite nice people

I cannot keep quiet even when I am a lone voice.

Mahathir Mohamad

lone voice quiet

I'm a fundamentalist in the true sense. That is to say, I follow the fundamentals of religion... But for over 1,400 years people have been interpreting and re-interpreting the religion to suit their own purpose! ... These [extremist and terrorist acts] are not Islamic fundamentals any more than the Christians who burned people at the stake are fundamentalist. They are actually deviating from the teachings of the religion!

Mahathir Mohamad

islamic teaching christian

Any organisation has a future, provided it is properly led and it sticks to the objective of that organisation.

Mahathir Mohamad

organisation objectives sticks

When I became Prime Minister, I looked back on what was done before – what were the policies and actions before – and I thought that I need to be critical if I’m going to do anything at all.

Mahathir Mohamad

done action needs

No one should have extra influence on an organisation. We should always regard ourselves as equals in the organisation, and we should be concerned about each other's problems.

Mahathir Mohamad

influence problem should-have

If you know each other well, you want to do business with people you know well. You don't do business with strangers.

Mahathir Mohamad

stranger want people

Developing countries like Malaysia should have a say in changing the world financial system since we have faced the problems that it has caused.

Mahathir Mohamad

developing-countries should-have country

History should remember Blair and Bush as the killers of children, or as the lying prime minister and president.

Mahathir Mohamad

president lying children

Some people say that we here have no freedom of religion, ... In reality, the people in that country are the ones who were forced to embrace a religion.

Mahathir Mohamad

country reality people

Membership of an organisation is good, as long as you can make yourself heard.

Mahathir Mohamad

membership heard long

When you have elections in which 90% or 95% or 99% of those elected come from one party, then I think there is some fraudulent act.

Mahathir Mohamad

election party thinking

Currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and totally immoral. It should be stopped.

Mahathir Mohamad

unnecessary currency should

Once started, religious strife has a tendency to go on and on - to become permanent feuds. Today we see such intractable inter-religious wars in Northern Ireland, between Jews and Muslims and Christians in Palestine, Hindus and Muslims in South Asia and in many other places. Attempts to bring about peace have failed again and again. Always the extremist elements invoking past injustices, imagined or real, will succeed in torpedoing the peace efforts and bringing about another bout of hostility.

Mahathir Mohamad

real religious christian

Malaysians, during the colonial period, were not given the top positions: we were always subordinate. Fortunately for us, the people who took over were mainly civil servants: people who were serving the Government.

Mahathir Mohamad

given government people

Most developing countries would know Malaysia quite well. Why? It is because we believe in contacts. We offer them some help for training, for example. We call it 'technical cooperation'.

Mahathir Mohamad

training believe country