Name? Mahathir Mohamad
Westphalian Identity? Malaysian
Age? 94
Why is he in the news? After a weekend of political wrangling in Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced his resignation Monday afternoon only to be asked by the King to remain in the role as interim PM until a new PM could be chosen.
Why do we care? Well, we have a close Malaysian friend who would have been very frustrated with us were this not discussed in the newsletter. More importantly, however, is that with the political turmoil surrounding other countries we’ve discussed above and the global protests we discuss below, we can’t help but wonder what impact we will soon witness worldwide? Is this the beginning of the end for democracy? Are the young activists going to one day takeover or eventually give up? Will climate change and the coronavirus kill us first? Golly how does one sleep at night?
Why should you care? While the Prime Minister of Malaysia may not always be on your IR radar, he does indeed exist in the IR world, representing roughly 32 million people. So, who he is should matter at least a little bit to you.
Who else cares? Other than the politicians in Malaysia and (some) media outlets, much of the rest of the world doesn’t seem to notice.
Any further comments? When the coalition government collapsed this weekend, all ministers were relieved of their positions, leaving the country without a government, which is not usually a good thing…the country is now in limbo with rival parties rushing to strike deals and form a government. Leading this race is the formerly expected successor of Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim.
