books

Dr Mahathir to launch Volume 2 of his letters

May 17, 2015

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will launch Volume Two of a selection of his letters to world leaders during his 22-year premiership. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 17, 2015.Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will launch Volume Two of a selection of his letters to world leaders during his 22-year premiership, at his Perdana Leadership Foundation office in Putrajaya tomorrow.

"Dr Mahathir's Selected Letters to World Leaders" is a sequel to Volume One published in 2008, which was a best seller and reprinted nine times, according to the book's editor, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad.

Abdullah told Bernama that the new book with 73 letters never before published, two more than the first edition, highlighted the 1987-2003 period of Malaysian diplomacy and international relations, especially between Malaysia and Singapore.

They include the correspondence between Dr Mahathir and three United States presidents, George H. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; three British prime ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair; General Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan), Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi, Fidel Castro of Cuba and Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

Of all these letters, Abdullah described those between Dr Mahathir and his Singapore counterparts Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chong Tok as the most "astonishing and insightful", given the long history of antipathy between both
countries.

Dr Mahathir, in his prologue to the book, wrote that as prime minister, he tried to enlarge Malaysia's international space and diplomacy.

"Our sovereignty and independence must remain secure so that Malaysians will have more than a decent place in the world pecking order.

"In the process of seeking a brighter future, we must not subordinate our interests to any power, big or small, and certainly not become their lackey," he said.