Leslie Thayer Mann - @ Detroit Lakes, Minn.

Almost every minute of it
Was bad for me
The ambivalence the anxiety
More than
Just a shift in blankets
Or where the moonlight fell
It was a
Trudging on eggshell hell
That went on for miles
Cutting my feet
Shutting down my heart
Slicing out years and vitality
Choking from a noose of isolation
I dangled
Parched from disregard and neglect
I drank
Demeaned by harsh words
I shrank
Into a shadow
Of the self I might have been
My arms twisted
I was ordered about
My knees bending and buckling
I was dominated
And broken by the struggle
But for you
I smiled and hid the darkness
‘Til you were on to me
And pushed and prodded
My breaking free
Now I am recovering the loss
The beauty and the passion
That glows within me
And no one
Will ever trick me again
Into slavery

Leslie Thayer Mann

All Rights Reserved

© 2009

This summer I wrote a blog post about how great singledom was.  I thought there couldn’t possibly be anything better than freedom coupled with attention from multiple people, but then I hit a dry spell.  The attention died away, I lost interest in pursuing people I didn’t care about, someone I actually liked ruined my life, and I felt ready to have a consistent sexual partner and attention giver boyfriend.  I know.  Gasp.

Unfortunately the decline in male attention was coupled with a rising of standards.  I vowed that I WOULD NOT SETTLE.  The person I was going to be with was going to have to meet a lot of criteria, including an acceptance of my blog and a large penis high IQ.  I decided to jumpstart the exercise in finding THENEXTONE by going to the supermarket and buying two cornish hens.

I reasoned that when I did get a boyfriend he’d really appreciate a homecooked meal and his own hen.

Actually two hens.  The roasted and me.

Anyway, the hens have been sitting in the freezer for an entire semester.  After a few bad dates and a tour of a Harvard dormitory, the quest continues, though I’m still not settling.  Actually the quest is kind of on hold.  Supposedly you never find a boyfriend when you’re looking. 

But for real, freedom has become my mantra.  Freedom to make out with random people, freedom to get up and go anywhere whenever I want, freedom to selfishly only think about myself, freedom to never clean my room…

I’m free to defrost my two cornish hens and feed them to me and my room mate. That’s just what I’ll do.

In the meantime I’ll sift through pictures of beautiful Europeans and Prince Harry.

It is too much too soon, but the opposition parties at Holyrood should stop treating the Scottish voters with contempt.

A referendum on independence is not what Scotland needs. If Alex Salmond and the SNP want to provide a catalyst for a national conversation, a vote on constitutional powers at this stage of the debate is the wrong way to go about it.

Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories, however, don’t seem to want any form of debate. According to them, the Scottish people are not capable enough or willing to engage in that time-honoured Scottish tradition of trashing out ideas in progressive discourse.

This website supports a national conversation. A debate – that is a serious, profound and forward-looking review of Scotland’s interests and the powers needed to secure them, is precisely what The Scots Journal has been created for.

However, none of the parties in Holyrood seem able to put playground tactics aside in favour of reaching out to the Scottish voters. In fact, if the headlines over the last week have been anything to go by, insulting the intelligence of the electorate seems to have become a national sport.

In particular, the Scottish media appear to have teamed up with the most intransigent and arrogant wings of the Labour party, to propagandise rather than encourage Scots to engage with their future.

The SNP on the other hand are driving home their agenda based on sensationalism and short-term gain. In reality, for the nationalists as well as the country at large, a vote on independence is ludicrous.

On all sides of the political spectrum, Scotland’s future seems to be given little intellectual credibility. Emotional outbursts, dubious rhetoric and misrepresenting the facts rule day. All the while the tolerance of the Scottish people is being tested by those who claim to have their interests at heart.

The opposition parties are nothing but disparaging about constitutional change. The SNP is shoving it down our throats.

However, the figures, as reported in this morning’s papers, are clear: Scotland is undecided.

Despite what the politicians would like you to think, the people of Scotland appear to be open-minded, even with their natural and healthy scepticism.

An Ipsos Mori poll shows that half of the Scottish people are in favour of a vote on independence in the future, but not immediately. This contradicts the claims of all the political parties.

Contrary to what the opposition, with their bed-buddies in the media, are saying, independence and constitutional change are not irrelevant. However, Scots are not as pliable as the SNP would hope.

What have the politicians got to lose through a genuine public dialogue on these issues? Who is really calling the shots here? The truth is no one actually knows for sure whether Scotland’s future demands more independence. No one can say whether it would be strategically better for us to remain in the UK, or pursue our interests as one of Europe’s smaller, energy rich nations.

There are arguments on both sides. Yet the Scottish people have been denied their right to a fair and thorough debate.

It would be a great disservice to my bajan heritage not to say a few words on this most auspicious occasion!

43 and we gine strong! We have come a looong way from Bussa, 4 hip roofs, “dese days is funny nights”, and Redifusion (cause spelling it differently would just be wrong). I ain really come to write nuh whole lotta sentimental tings (not at this hour anyway) cause I want to get back to gourmandizing  muh conkies… But any how I was sittin down tinkin bout tings dat I would love to see happen in Bim… and some tings dat I would love to stop gine on too, some tings dat I hopin for and some tings dat does bother my soul. So in de hopes dat somebody actually reading dis ting, hear wha gine on:

• Bajans should aim to maintain control of  bajan strongholds, for example, hypothetically speaking of course, it would look kinda bad for something like the Barbados central bank to be owned by Trinidad. Hence
• Barbados should aim to counteract the the triple-ization process of the the republic of trinidad and tobago. no offense my trini bredren
• Shontelle, Hal Linton, Livvi Franc and all my undiscovered bajan artistes are gonna knock this world off their musical behinds. They have already started by the way.
• Significant improvements need to be made to the health system, particularly in the area of mental health. It is not enough that everybody has access to healthcare – there is always room for improvement.
• I hope Bajans get serious about our health: We have a very high rate of obesity, especially among women. this means that we probably also have a high rate of obesity related diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and an increased risk for getting these and other deadly diseases.
• Bajans STILL need to stop being so malicious… and I mean malicious in both the bajan and the dictionary way.
• We need to wise up and let go of the stigma we have attached as a culture to HIV/AIDS. Knowledge is power. Get tested. Protect yaself.
• I hope that the Arts is never removed from the education system in Barbados. It plays an integral role in learning and cultivating well rounded individuals who don’t grow up to feel trapped inside the box of the droid.
• That said I hope we never remove religion from schools either, because contrary to popular belief, it helps contribute to the forming of ^that well rounded individual^.
• I can get eclipse biscuits at my local rite aid pharmacy cheaper than I can in Barbados . . .    (something is inherently wrong with that)
• I want de ministry of education to rethink the system they have set up which mandates scholars etc to repay their debt to the government in one specific way. Diversifying options might curb the exportation of the talent and genius we cultivate.
• Pinehill need to revisit wha it is dat went wrong wid de peanut punch!!! FIX IT!!!
• And of most importance to me: Bajans need to be very concerned about the fact that Barbados is categorized as a water scarce country. We need to be more aware of the integral role that water plays in us being who we are as a people, a nation, a culture, and a marketable commodity/product. With ground water supplies at a significant low that means that finding water for us to drink, wash and cook with, and use for irrigation is becoming increasingly difficult for the BWA, so much so that there are talks of buliding a reverse osmosis plant to bottle water? It may just be me but for an economy so heavily based in the beauty of our environment we can be pretty clueless about what is going on around us because of us. (in depth blogpost coming soon). The Minstry for the Environment etc. needs to do a little bit more to educate the public.
• Why the BWA website look so meager??? and given the above this is an absoloute atrocity!!!
• Why nobody ain save the Swamp/Bird Sanctuary in Graeme Hall??? chuh man ya spoil um
• With this swine flu epidemic wunna really need to take advantage and consume ridiculous amounts of bajan cherry and shots of bush tea bitters! (contact your local grandparent for more bushtea info)

Happy Independence my Beautiful people!!!

Since 1953, the United States interested in helping move the ‘crisis’ in the territory of Indonesia. The project is known as the ‘direct cause’ that encourages the Soekarno end ‘parliamentary system’ & declared a state of emergency or martial law war on March 17, 1957. Document NSC 171 / 1 of 1953, official documents of the National Security Council or the National Security Council of the United States, includes consideration of military training as a means to increase the influence of the United States.

CIA channeled millions of aid dollars, in 1957 a Senate Commission to study the options to find what the CIA called ‘no evidence that the CIA was involved in a plan to assassinate President Sukarno’. On August 1, 1958, the United States began to increase military aid program to Indonesia in the number of twenty million dollars a year. A memorandum from the Joint Chiefs of Staff United States explained that this assistance is given to the Indonesian Army to implement a plan to control Communism. Nevertheless, in 1958, the CPI still appear as the largest mass movement in Indonesia. Rand Corp. In a book published by Princeton University Publishing Board, Guy Parker, a lecturer at the University of California concurrently a consultant at the Rand Corp., a partner in the body urges Indonesian army to ‘carry out a mission’ & to ’strike wiped out the house’ and take over the responsibility fully answered in the ‘national leadership’.

Noam Chomsky & Herman ES in The Washington Connection & Third World Facism, and David Mozinggo in Chinese Policy toward Indonesia, mentioned that the most significant focus on training programs and assistance the United States is concerned that increased relations between the territorial organization of government soldiers with civilian, political relations civic groups, religious & cultural organizations, youth groups, veterans, trade unions, peasant organizations, political parties & groups of local and regional level.

Neville Maxwell, a senior researcher at the institute Persemakmuram Studies, Oxford University in the Journal of Contemporary Asia IX states that scenario planning might Gestapu and Anti Gestapu has started since 1964. He wrote also that: “Several years ago I was researching the background of Pakistan about India’s diplomatic conflict with Pakistan.

In this paper the Foreign Ministry that had I learned, I found a letter dated December 1964 from one of Pakistan’s Ambassador in Europe to the Foreign Minister Ali Bhutto. He reported his conversation with the officer something Dutch & inteljen officers provide information that Indonesia would fall into the Western lap like a rotten apple, inteljen agencies west will design a communist coup of premature and doomed to fail. “

U.S. against SOEKARNO
Many people in Washington-especially the CIA Directorate of Planning, has long wanted to Sukarno removed. When Lyndon Johnson Presidential chair up immediately followed by the political changes that more anti-Sukarno. President Jhonson in December 1963 has decided to hold economic aid amid Indonesia’s economic slump. This has actively contributed to the destabilization of the radical Indonesian economy, so the price of rice between June to September 1965 increased to four times & prices sky-high dollar.

As also happened in Chile, termination of all forms of economic assistance to Indonesia gradually in the years 1962-1965 coupled with the transfer of military aid to friendly elements in the Indonesian Army. United States military assistance reached 39.5 million dollars in four stages in that period, with a peak of 16.3 million dollars a year.

Looks like something that is difficult to understand, even after Sukarno said ‘go to hell with your aid’ & nationalize the economic interests of the United States, and utilize funds to support the Soviet Union against the British in Malaysia, it was the United States helped arm the Indonesian military. People just do not realize just what is actually being developed. Essentially, the U.S. Congress agreed to handle pedanaan Indonesian military as a matter of covert & confidential. Funding by the United States government only transferred from the State financing for Indonesia to the components and elements of the least loyal to the government.

This began from Kedaaan Act of 1957 Hazards of the process is accelerated by the existence of an agreement which dinegoisasikan oil with the United States in 1963. Similar shift has occurred also in the flow of oil companies paid the United States, Stanvac & Caltex now provide greater payments to PERMINA, Oil Company’s Army. George Benson who heads the military training kelopok advisor Iltag in Jakarta and has been hired by PERMINA as a lobbyist in Washington. Associated with it, the Fortune in July 1973 had written that the company is still small PERMINA play a key role in funding operations crucial & The army will never forget it.

U.S. AID and THE PRE Gestapu
Officials of the United States is trying to create the impression that the U.S. is beyond the Gestapu event planning, but essentially they lied, they basically admitted that the role of U.S. aid in the pre Gestapu been instrumental in helping anti-communist groups in seizing power. Although in 1965 the number fell MAP shipment value of about fourteen million dollars for at least over two million dollars, but instead joined civilian personnel in Indonesia presented for the first time & the number of military personnel who are mostly MILTAG special forces green berets the U.S. from Okinawa bases are placed in Indonesia is not diminished even improved.

In early May 1965, military suppliers Lockheed-especially-with CIA connections negotiate with the envoys of Soeharto on equipment sales with a gift for intermediaries in such a way that is more supportive move, Major General Suharto. Until that time, Major General Suharto had known little of it as the new leader, as a third group in addition to the Army General Ahmad Yani & General AH Nasution group. In July 1965, Rockwell Standard held a contract agreement to supply two hundred light aircraft to Aero Commander Indonesian Army, not to the Indonesian Air Force & again penjulan agent in this transaction is the political & business partner of Major-General Suharto.

San Francisco Chronicle on October 24, 1980 describe one-Lockheed USAF operations in Southeast Asia with the code name Buttercup operating from Norton air base in California for the involvement of the CIA in return for commission payments to Lockheed. Secret funds managed by the United States Air Force for the interests of the CIA has been ‘washed’ as the commission on the sale of Lockheed equipment & services with the aim to give ‘political gift’ to the military personnel of foreign countries.

In addition, some United States companies corporations also stated that they expect a significant improvement drive for the U.S. position in Indonesia. For example, in April 1965 Freeport has reached “preliminary preparations” with Indonesian officials for a copper mining project in West Papua with a project value of 500 million dollars. On August 15, 1965 World Oil has also been reported that the president of the national oil company-Asamera small-berpatungan with Pertamin have to purchase company stock worth 50 thousand dollars. It’s all lies evidence of common knowledge that U.S. companies do not start negotiations with the Indonesian people prior to February 1966.

CIA OPERATIONS IN 1965
Disturbed by the military’s reluctance to act against Allende’s Chile, the CIA created the right circumstances & matching, make & distribute the refraction through the media operations, the CIA forged a document that recognizes the disclosure & demolition plan to kill leftists Chilean military leader.

CIA agents in Santiago Chile to help the military inteljen design documents, as if Allende & supporters planned to behead Chilean military commanders. Deception operations against Allende seems to go further, to intimidate both the left and right with the new killings started by his opponents.

Number & models destabilization convince all concerned that they no longer hope to protect the status quo. This operation is like this weakens the center line & cause a lot of provocation of violence between left and right groups. The members of the union or the generals who received conservative small card printed with the words threat words: ‘Djakarta Acerca se’ or ‘Sydney is getting closer’.

There are similarities between the events that accelerate the overthrow of Allende by what happened in Indonesia in 1965. Ralph Mc Gehee, a former member of the CIA claimed to have seen the CIA documents containing confidential report on the agency’s role in provoking Gestapu.

A year before Gestapu, in a document is a description of plans to overthrow the followers Nasution through infiltration in the Army. throughout the year 1965 in the Army tension increased with rumors that the mainland China to smuggle arms to the PKI in order to bring about a revolution that is near & soon erupt. The story of smuggling weapons from China coupled with the demands of the PKI to form the People’s Militia or the Fifth Army and the People’s Youth training in Crocodile Hole, a little more frightening for the Indonesian army.

Meanwhile, paranoia about PKI coup continued to exhale, continued for many months with repeated reports that the Council of Generals who supported the CIA was designed to suppress the PKI.

Such rumors are not only derived from the sources of anti-American, even in the Washington Post written by Evans and Novak. The two reporters also wrote that the Army has established the Advisory Commission tacitly & consists of five generals to give a report to the General Ahmad Yani & General Nasution of the activities of the PKI.

PKI ready to fight, while the Nasution group hoped that the CPI would pull the trigger first. But it did not also visit carried out by the PKI. PKI is not going to let provoked as in the Madison event. Situation & conditions makes midline group had no alternative but to choose the protection of the stronger. On September 14, 1965, two weeks before the ‘coup’, the Army again warned that Indonesia is a plan-led troops killed four days later.

The story with this purpose, two weeks before the Gestapu-also appeared in the Malaysian daily which quoted from a source in Bangkok & in turn refers to the source of Hong Kong.

Impossibility of international tracked like this is the style or characteristics of the stories in this period derived from the so-called ‘man in the CIA’ as ‘the mighty wurlitser’ belongs to them, namely networks ‘assets’ that the world press is used by the CIA or similar bodies M-16 from the UK who can instill the news by not cause disinformation.

Of course the ‘fairy tale’ about the ‘Council of Generals’ this is expressed by Lieutenant Colonel Untung as the target of the coup Gestapu. The killing of five general-except-by Gestapu Yani, as far as the number of general koinsidensi written by the Washington Post is a significant thing. But it will be long remembered kontradikstif stories circulating in the U.S. press that the CIA has long ruled that the two generals, General Ahmad Yani & General AH Nasution, as assessed against Sukarno reluctantly. So if the scenario ‘politics elimininasi to competitors’ Suharto’s army in the environment through Gestapu be blamed on leftists, it’s Gestapu scenario generation needs a re-image to the second anti-communist general.

On August 2, 1965, the New York Times published a longer speech Nasution in an interview in 1963 about his attitude toward menaggapi attack British bases in Singapore. It was actually intended merely to state that General AH Nasution Nasution, which is considered as the most persistent opponent of Sukarno and the PKI & supported by the CPI-kanpanye has launched the Army as an anti-Communist forces.

With regard to the media campaign that accompanied the coup scenario that Gestapu, Prof.. Ruth Benedict Andersen & Mc Vey questioned why PKI does not indicate support for the ‘coup Gestapu’ when a coup was under way? But why did after the movement was suppressed even with the sudden rash even in the People’s Daily made an editorial that contains support for ‘coup Gestapu’? Why did Suharto’s time mastering Jakarta and close all the newspapers do not cover precisely the People’s Daily that obviously is owned newspaper PKI?

Ambassador Marshall Green reported an interview with President Nixon in 1967: “Experience Indonesian President Nixon’s attention, because things have been going on with the fine. I think he is very interested in all this experience by pointing out the way we should do in broader relationships in Southeast Asia generally, and perhaps in the world. “

Citing memoirs of a former naval experts inteljen United States, which states that the U.S. plans to overthrow Sihanouk, including groups smuggle U.S. trained killers disguised as Vietcong to kill Pnom Penh to Sihanouk on the pretext of the Revolution. After the inauguration of President Nixon, at the highest level of government requires that there is a moderate murder at the center by the apparent left-wing groups as a pretext to overthrow the power of the right wing.

Even so, keep in mind that from one point of view it certainly no one can guarantee the control of events in a chaotic period. So it seems kind of funny & stupid to consider the emergence of violence in 1965 that arise only from the United States government, the Indonesian military & their relationship with each other inteljen UK & Germany and Japan may also Australia. CPI is certainly also has a significant role in the emergence of political hysteria in 1965. Be made an even longer able to discuss the action ‘pro-active PKI’ & also President Sukarno himself in this social collapse.

But the state issues the United States involvement in the systematic killing operation of this important & in particular to know more about the CIA report stated & views itself by Ralph Mc Gehee as a former member of the CIA. Interpretation that can be compared like that help explain the role of Indonesia in the overthrow of governments in other countries, sponsored by Nixon, as against Sihanoek in Cambodia, the overthrow of President Allende in Chile & sponsorship United States today along with the regime death squads in Central America.

Une carte de l'Ecosse

Le gouvernement écossais doit publier son Livre blanc sur l’avenir constitutionnel de l’Ecosse. Il pourrait ouvrir la voie à un référendum sur l’indépendance.

Le Premier ministre (First Minister) Alex Salmond, qui est aussi le leader du Scottish National Parti, devrait y faire valoir que l’Ecosse doit être indépendante pour rejoindre son potentiel économique.

Le gouvernement minoritaire du SNP ne dispose cependant pas d’un soutien suffisant pour réussir à mener à bien ce projet de loi référendaire; tous les autres partis s’y opposent.

Le livre blanc sera présenté à la Saint-Andrew, patron saint de l’Ecosse, le 30 novembre. A l’instar de la France qui a entamé un débat sur l’identité française, la présentation de ce livre blanc intervient après que le gouvernement du SNP ait commencé sa «conversation nationale» sur l’avenir de l’Écosse.

Liens:

Alex Salmond, Premier ministre (First Minister)

L’avenir de l’Ecosse (Choosing Scotland’s Future: A National Conversation) site du gouvernement écossais.

Le gouvernement écossais

Saint-Andrew, patron saint de l’Ecosse

My parents. So frustrating.

Not to seem arrogant or self-centered, but I think most people would find me to be quite an exceptional daughter. I don’t do drugs, I don’t fuck around (or date, or kiss), I get straight A’s, nearly perfect SAT scores, I’m self-sufficient, studious, diligent…and yet, my parents do not trust me at all. My dad and I got into a huge fight on Tuesday because he disagreed with my going to the library every day after school Why? I’m simply studying. I’m not planning some secret meeting with a guy or trying to undermine your nominal authority. Even my mom, who is more liberal about these matters than my dad, refuses to allow me to venture outside of the house on a weekend more than twice a week. I find their adamancy on keeping me in the house incomprehensible, especially since I don’t do anything except go online. Although, I guess if I’m at home, they’ll at least know what I’m doing. I’m almost 18 for Christ’s sake. I need and want to be free. I want to do things without having to consult my parents for approval, especially when the activities I’m engaging in aren’t even social.

Personality-wise, I’m a pretty free and curious individual. I like exploring my surroundings, experiencing new things, walking around aimlessly in the street for no particular reason. My parents would never allow me to be myself though. They would insist on caging me within this hell hole where I’m “safe” and under their reproachful eye. The limitations are stifling. Sometimes, I cry for no other reason other than that I feel like some part of me is being repressed. All these years in confinement, and I wonder how things would have been different if I had been given more freedom to express myself and learn new things.

My dad is the worst, really. In addition to barring me from the outside world in a physical sense, he also finds it necessarily to bar my mind from any other thoughts except that of school. He hates it when I talk about politics. He hates it when I talk about social reform. He hates it when I talk about art, and he used to be a fucking artist. He suspects that I’ve been doing “bad” things like talking to boys and socializing. I’m sorry for not being a recluse? I’m sorry that I enjoy the company of other friends, some of whom happen to have penises?

No, I refuse to apologize for being myself.

I resent the fact that I’m going to post this. It seems so whiny and self-centered. Most of all, it’s pointless. This isn’t going to help me solve my issues. Really though, what can? No strokes of insight have yet to lead me successfully to greater independence. The only solution I can think of is to just wait until college. Wait until I turn eighteen, perhaps.

Even then, I have considerable doubt as to whether I can eradicate these mental boundaries I have imposed upon myself after these years of confinement.

During his term in office, Mahathir turned Malaysia into a regional high-tech manufacturing, financial, and telecommunications hub through his economic policies based on corporate nationalism, known as the various “Malaysia Plans” which set out the government middle-term objectives. These policies with strong Keynesian tendency remained in effect almost to the end of his tenure in office.^{[citation needed]}

His pet projects have included Perwaja Steel, an attempt to emulate South Korea and Japan, the Proton car company, and Astro, a satellite television service.^{[citation needed]}

Mahathir is credited with spearheading the phenomenal growth of the Malaysian economy, now one of the largest in Southeast Asia. Growth between 1988 and 1997 averaged over ten percent and living standards rose twentyfold, with poverty relatively almost eradicated and social indicators such as literacy levels and infant mortality rates becoming almost on par with developed countries.^{[citation needed]}

During this period, Mahathir embarked on various large scale national projects, such as the North-South Expressway, Multimedia Super Corridor, the planned capital city of Putrajaya, Johor’s Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Bakun Dam in Sarawak, and the Petronas Towers.

While such projects have their benefits, corresponding high costs have made some Malaysians reluctant to engage in more of such ventures, believing that the money can be better spent on other areas of development.^[18] On the other hand, Mahathir has always argued that such projects yield a direct return to the economy, apart from just serving the national pride, as government spendings in turn create jobs along with other multiplier effects. Mahathir has also been criticised for the failures and inefficiency of some of his pet projects. Perwaja Steel eventually failed and had to be rescued by a corporate white knight. Its chairman, Eric Chia, faced charges of corruption in 2004. Proton eventually had to be bought by Petronas when its parent DRB-HICOM found itself over-extended, and is still currently fighting to become profitable. Astro enjoyed a monopoly on pay television services in Malaysia until 2005 when it ended with the granting of a licence to a rival MiTV

The Bakun Dam project was to be managed by a local construction firm, Ekran Berhad. It issued a 1-for-1 on time rights issue which was 63% undersubscribed (the first time in Malaysia for an event of this magnitude). Ekran’s chairman, Ting Pek King, had to purchase all unsubscribed shares at a cost of $500 million ringgit due to his agreement with the underwriters. Subsequently the dam project was taken back by the government which was obliged to pay Ekran for the work already completed.

In 1983 and 1991, he took on the federal and state monarchies, removing the royal veto and royal immunity from prosecution.^[11] Prior to this amendment of the law, royal assent was required in order for any bill to pass into law. With effect of this amendment, approval by parliament could be legally considered as royal assent after a period of 30 days, notwithstanding the views of the monarchs.

In 1988 when the future of the ruling party UMNO was about to be decided in the Supreme Court (it had just been de-registered as an illegal society in the High Court), he was believed to have engineered the dismissal of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Salleh Abas, and three other supreme court justices who tried to block the misconduct hearings. The series of incidents in 1988 has been widely viewed as the end of the Malaysian judiciary’s independence from the executive.

• Tun Musa Hitam 1981-1986
• Tun Ghafar Baba 1986-1993, appointed by Mahathir
• Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim 1993-1998
• Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi 1999-2003, appointed by Mahathir

Mahathir became the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 16 July 1981 when Tun Hussein Onn stepped down due to health reasons. He was the nation’s first Prime Minister that came from a modest social background, whereas the first three prime ministers were members of the royal or elite families.^[13]

After 22 years in office, Mahathir retired on 31 October 2003, making him one of Asia’s longest-serving political leaders. Upon his retirement on 31 October 2003, Mahathir was awarded a “Tun“-ship, Malaysia’s highest civilian honour.

In the third general election of 1964, Mahathir was elected Member of Parliament for Kota Setar Selatan^[16] defeating the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party’s (PAS) candidate with a 60.2% majority. He lost the seat in the following general election in 1969 by a mere 989 votes to PAS’s candidate, Haji Yusoff Rawa.^[17]

Following the race riots of 13 May 1969, Mahathir was sacked from the UMNO Supreme Council on 12 July, following his widespread distribution to the public of his letter to Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Prime Minister at that time. In his letter, he had criticised the manner in which Tunku Abdul Rahman had handled the country’s administration which was believed to favour the ethnic Chinese. Dr. Mahathir was subsequently relieved of his party membership on 26 September.^[17]

While in the political wilderness, Mahathir wrote his book, “The Malay Dilemma”^[17] in which he sought to explain the causes of the 13 May Incident in Kuala Lumpur and the reasons for the Malays’ lack of economic progress within their own country. He then proposed a politico-economic solution in the form of “constructive protection”, worked out after careful consideration of the effects of heredity and environmental factors on the Malay race. The book, published in 1970, was promptly banned by the Tunku Abdul Rahman government.^[17] However, some of the proposals in this book had been used by Tun Abdul Razak, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s successor, in his “New Economic Policy” (NEP) that was principally geared towards affirmative action economic programs to address the nation’s economic disparity between the Malays and the non-Malays. The ban on his book was eventually lifted after Mahathir became Prime Minister in 1981.^[17]

Mahathir rejoined UMNO on 7 March 1972, and was appointed as Senator in 1973. He relinquished the senatorship post in 1974 in order to contest in the general elections where he was returned unopposed in the constituency of Kubang Pasu, and was appointed as the Minister of Education.^[17] In 1975, he became one of the three vice-presidents of UMNO, after winning the seat by 47 votes. Tun Hussein Onn appointed Mahathir as Deputy Prime Minister on 15 September 1978, and in a Cabinet reshuffle, appointed him concurrently as the Minister of Trade and Industry.

Mahathir had announced that he has resigned from UMNO, the backbone of the ruling party, the Barisan National on 19 May 2008 which coincides with the Wesak Day celebration.

Mahathir was born in Alor Setar, Kedah,^[6] the youngest of nine children^[7] of a schoolteacher and a housewife. His father, Mohamad Iskandar, was of 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.^[8]

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 pseudonymously under the nickname “Che Det”. Mahathir was also President of the Muslim Society in the college.^[9] 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 college—on 5 August 1956, and left government service in 1957 to set up his own private practice in Alor Star. Mahathir thrived in private practice, and allowed him to own by 1959 a Pontiac Catalina and employ an ethnic Chinese chauffeur (at the time, almost all chauffeurs in Malaysia were Malays, owing to the economic dominance of the ethnic Chinese).^[10] Some critics have suggested this foreshadowed a later hallmark of Mahathir’s politics, which focused on the “cultivation of such emblems of power”.^[11]

From his marriage with Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah binti Haji Mohamad Ali, they have seven children,^[12] four sons and three daughters: Marina Mahathir, Mirzan Mahathir, Melinda Mahathir, Mokhzani Mahathir, Mukhriz Mahathir, Maizura Mahathir and Mazhar Mahathir. ^[13] Both Mukhriz and Mokhzani ^[14] are involved in business as well as in politics while their eldest daughter Marina is a prominent local writer and AIDS activist.^[15]

He successfully underwent a heart bypass operation in 1989 at age 63.

Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Mahathir bin Mohamad
Prime Minister of Malaysia
In office 16 July 1981 – 31 October 2003
Monarch	Ahmad Shah Iskandar Azlan Shah Jaafar Salahuddin Mizan Zainal Abidin (Regent) Sirajuddin
Deputy	Musa Hitam Ghafar Baba Anwar Ibrahim Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Preceded by	Hussein Onn
Succeeded by	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
In office 15 September 1978 – 16 July 1981
Prime Minister	Hussein Onn
Preceded by	Hussein Onn
Succeeded by	Musa Hitam
21st Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement
In office 25 February 2003 – 31 October 2003.
Preceded by	Thabo Mbeki
Succeeded by	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Born	10 July 1925 (1925-07-10) (age 84) Alor Star, Kedah, British Malaya
Political party	United Malays National Organisation-National Front
Spouse(s)	Siti Hasmah
Profession	Doctor of Medicine
Religion	Islam
Signature
Website	[1]

Tun Mahathir bin Mohamad (pronounced [maˈhatir bin moˈhamat̚]; born July 10, 1925) is a retired Malaysian political figure. He 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.^[1] During his term in office, he was credited for engineering Malaysia’s rapid modernisation.^[2] Mahathir is also known for his criticisms towards western and developed countries.^[3]

During his administration, he was considered to be one of Asia’s most influential leaders.^[4] Mahathir is also noted in the Western world as an outspoken critic of Western-style globalization.

After his retirement as Prime Minister he continued to contribute to welfare organisations. He was instrumental in the setting up of the Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital. He was also an advisor to Petronas the country’s ooil company and Chairman of Institute of strategic and International Studies (ISIS).

During the 1987 UMNO leadership crisis, Tun Hussein fell out with Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, supporting Team B along with Tunku Abdul Rahman. Tun Hussein along with Tunku, henceforth, became a strident critic of the Mahathir administration and died without having rejoined UMNO.

He died in the 29 May 1990 in Seaton Medical Center, San Francisco, at the age of 68. He had two sons and four daughters. He is buried in Makam Pahlawan (Heroes Mausoleum) near Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

Tun Hussein Onn was looked upon as being very sincere in his struggle for racial unity and had a reputation of being fir against anyone the tried to create racial unrest in the country and it was due to this, that he was known as “Father of Unity”.

Hussein’s son, Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Bin Tun Hussein, became the Home Minister of Malaysia on April 10, 2009.

On the 17 September 2005, Hussein Onn’s eldest daughter Datin Roqiyah Hanim, died at the age of 56 from breast cancer in Kuala Lumpur.

Tun Hussein returned to politics in1968 after being persuaded by the then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak to rejoin UMNO. He stood and won the general elections in 1969 and was appointed as the education minister. Tun Hussein’s meteoric rise continued when on August 13, 1973 he succeeded the late Tun Dr Ismail as the Deputy Prime Minister. On January 15, 1976 he was appointed as Prime Minister of Malaysia after the death of Tun Razak.

Tun Hussein was renowned for stressing on the issue of unity through policies aimed at retrifying economic imbalances between the communities. For instance, April 20, 1981 saw the National Unit Trust Scheme being launched. He also gave serious consideration to the concept of Rukun Tetangga (a neighbourhood watch scheme) and the fight against the drug menace.

Tun Hussein, who was married to Toh Puan Suhaila Tan Sri Haji Mohd Noah, for 42 years underwent a coronary bypass in early 1981. On July 17 the same year, he retired from active politics and relinquished his prime minister post due to health concerns. He was succeeded by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

Tun Hussein, who came from a family deep nationalistic spirit and political roots, resigned from the civil service to go into politics. In 1949, he became the first youth chief of UMNO (United Malays National Organization), a party his father helped established. In 1950, he was elected the UMNO a secretary general. Tun Hussein however left UMNO in 1951 to join his father in forming the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP).\

With IMP losing momentum, Tun Hussein went to London to study law at Lincoln’s Inn, qualifying as a Barrister-at-Law. He came back as a certified lawyer and practiced in Kuala Lumpur.

Tun Hussein received his early education in Singapore and at the English College in Johor Bahru. After leaving school, he joined the Johor Military Forces as a cadet in 1940 and was sent a year later to the Indian Millitary Academy in Dehradun, India. Upon completion of his training, he was absorbed into the Indian Army and served in the Middle East when the Second World War broke. After the war, his vast experience prompted the British to employ him as an instructor at the Malayan Police Recruiting and Training Centre in Rawalpindi.

Tun Hussein came back to Malaysia in 1945 and was appointed Commandant of the Johor Bahru Police Depot. The following year he joined the Malaya Civil Service as an assistant administrative officer in Segamat, Johor. He was later posted to the state of Selangor, becoming Klang and Kuala Selangor’s district officer.

Tun Hussein bin Dato’ Onn (Feruary 12, 1922 – May 29, 1990) who is of 3/4 Malay and 1/4 Circassian ancestry was the third Prime Minister of Malaysia, ruling from 1976 to 1981. He was granted the sobriquet Bapa Perpaduan (Father of Unity). He was born in Johor Bahru, Johor on February 12, 1922 to Dato Onn Jaafar and Datin Halimah Hussein.

Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Hussein Onn
Prime Minister of Malaysia
In office 15 January 1976 – 16 July 1981
Monarch	Yahya Petra Ahmad Shah
Deputy	Mahathir bin Mohamad
Preceded by	Abdul Razak
Succeeded by	Mahathir bin Mohamad
3rd Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
In office 13 August 1973 – 15 January 1976
Prime Minister	Abdul Razak
Preceded by	Ismail Abdul Rahman
Succeeded by	Mahathir Mohamad
Born	12 February 1922(1922-02-12) Johor Bahru, Johor, British Malaya
Died	28 May 1990 (aged 68) South San Francisco, United States
Political party	United Malays National Organisation-National Front
Spouse(s)	Suhailah Noah
Occupation	Lawyer
Religion	Islam

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