Mahathir’s maxims : A view on "A doctor in the house"

Have you read Tun Mahathir’s book entitled “A doctor in the house”? I have the opportunity to read the 843 page of book recently. To my surprise, it has never been a boring experience to go through the book page by page. Every chapter has its own interesting story. I became so engrossed and oblivious to my surroundings when reading the book that had several times made my wife berserk for not paying any attention to what she said.

What captured me the most were the sayings or adages that Tun adopted in doing what he did or when observing the events before him. I do believe that these sayings and adages are worth to be noted and could serve as a guide. I prefer to call them Mahathir’s maxims and to a small leader like me, I find them useful and handy in understanding rationale behind actions of the leaders.

Here, I would like to share some maxims enunciated in his book:-

1. “A leader wants to show that he is different, he wants to leave his own mark on the nation.”

2. “An apology was out of question because it would mean losing all the credibility”

3. “No party which appealed only to communal sentiments could ever expect to form a central government. Neither could any party which forgets the racial origin of its members hope to succeed.”

4. “If I could not get in one way, I would try another. Move sideways instead of seeking to bulldoze your ways via frontal assault.”

5. “There is never a moment in a person’s life when he is liked by everyone”

6. “At the height of your popularity, there will always be someone who wishes you dead”

7. “Man proposes ,God disposes”

8. “Make your plans and try your best. If you encounter problems, be flexible, analytical and ready to try something else.”

9. “Unless people were properly guided, the opportunities will be wasted”

10. “If life is easy, you have no reasons to try hard to improve”

11. “In democracy, there will always be winners and losers”

These are parts of many Mahathir maxims enunciated in that book. It helps us in seeing things the way he saw. The most important thing is “Are we able to apply these maxims when we encountered the situations that warrant our decision or action?

These were the thoughts of Tun Mahathir, a true leader and a statesman. Would not it be worth for us to emulate?