Islam and the Muslim Ummah

This collection of speeches, written and delivered by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad represents some of his major themes views and thoughts on politics, democracy and the much-heralded new Asia.

Dr. Mahathir is noted for this strong, thought-provoking and no-holds-barred views on politics and democracy. An ardent believer in democracy himself, he is against attempts to turn the Asian political system into the Anglo-Saxon liberal democracy. A leader who speaks his minds, Dr. Mahathir disagrees with the view that liberal democracy is the only way of administering a country and there can be only one economic system (namely, the free market system) for the whole world. He laments the fact that the Western free-market liberal democracies is now unchallenged with the demise of the Eastern bloc.

Dr. Mahathir also shares his thoughts on the need to work on the World Century, a single global commonwealth characterised by mutual respect, mutual appreciation, much greater consideration for the interests feelings, values and ways of others. He disagree with the view that the next century is going to be the Asian Century.

However, Dr. Mahathir believes that a new Asia will emerge, an Asia that no longer sits down and take injury and insult in silence. Calling for the reform of the United Nations to make the world body more democratic, Dr. Mahathir, in his well-articulated speeches, also shares his views on the freedom of the press which is touted as a basic democratic principle. He feels that control of the media by a handful of Western corporations has made a mockery of this principle. He also decries the west's attempt to foist their values on the rest of the world and calls for a more sincere attempts to understand Asian values and their place in society.