Thaindian News

Kuala Lumpur, March 8 (IANS) “I am a Malay…in sentiment and spirit,” Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, whose roots are partly Indian, has asserted in his autobiography that is just out.

Although he has South Indian roots, he says: “I am a Malay and am proud of it. I am a Malay not just on paper. I am also a Malay in sentiment and in spirit”, The Star reported.

“A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad” comprising 62 chapters and spanning 809 pages was launched here Tuesday.

Mahathir was the prime minister from 1981 to 2003. He has talked about his Malay-Indian heritage — a branch of the family hailed from Kerala — that he had sought to play down during a long political career.

Multi-racial Malaysia is home to 2.1 million ethnic Indians, one of the largest Indian diaspora - a bulk of them Tamils, settled here during the British era.

Mahathir’s book comes eight years after he stepped down. During this period, he was critical of his hand-picked successor, Abdullah Badawi, but has made friendly references to the present incumbent, Najib Tun Razak.

Mahathir has devoted two chapters to Anwar Ibrahim, his deputy prime minister and finance minister, whom he sacked in 1998, after Ibrahim was charged with sodomy.

Ibrahim is currently fighting a fresh charge of sodomy that was leveled against him in 2008 by a young aide. The case is before a trial court.

In the book, Mahathir has dealt with the 1998 sacking, saying that police surveillance provided “evidence, including pictures and the confessions of the people involved” in Anwar’s alleged sexual activities.

He also gives more details on the first sodomy allegations involving Anwar, who is now heading the Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition alliance that won 88 seats and wrested control of four states in the 2008 election.