Mahathir Mohamad

“Malaysia is particularly sensitive: we have three races here and 29 different tribes. If you allow people to say what they like, there will be violence, confrontations, and all that. We need stability.”

“We say less things about Australians than Australians say about us, calling me a dictator, authoritarian government.”

“I assume that people react to things as I would react. For example, if you are nice to people, they should be nice to you.”

“We can go into the Chinese market, develop the engine, new models of cars. Proton can compete. What is the point of giving the company to foreigners? It will revert to the same situation where foreigners just assemble their cars here. We learn nothing.”

“Democracy must be internally generated. You cannot force it from the top - it's not going to work.”

“We want to defend the rights of Malaysians. We don't want to sell chunks of this country to foreign companies who will develop whole towns.”

“It is always the right of the mighty which prevails over the weak, and that is very primitive.”

“When you have a prime minister who is corrupt, then you can be sure that a country cannot be anything else but corrupt.”

“Australia is not a safe place.”

“I expect every prime minister to have his own imprint.”

“The Internet is undermining moral values.”

“When the people perceive that the print media is reporting what they believe is correct, then they tend to read the print media and to follow news on the television.”

“It would seem the people who want to preserve the Penans' way of life are condemning them to a life full of diseases and a shorter life span.”

“We have had dealings with terrorists for a long time. From 1948 until 1990, we had domestic terrorism because the pro-communist groups wanted to overthrow the colonial government.”

“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.”

“Jews rule the world by proxy.”

“If you want to be honest with yourself, you have to take criticism, even if you attract adverse comments from others.”

“I resigned on my own, and during my time, the country enjoyed a period of great prosperity.”

“I was forced to say, 'I will not censor the Internet.' But I was never convinced.”

“The thinning of the ozone layer is blamed on logging of tropical forests. The fact that the burning of fossil fuels and release of CFCs (chloro-fluoro-carbons) into the atmosphere occur largely in the rich countries are significantly ignored.”