Quora Answer: What Would Singapore be If Instead of Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir bin Mohammed was the PM of Singapore?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What would Singapore be, if instead of Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir bin Mohammed were the PM of Singapore?”

If Mahathir bin Mohamad were the Prime Minister, there would be no Singapore.  As a Malay supremacist and racist, he would have no difference of opinion with Tungku Abdul Rahman, and Singapore would not separate.  If Mahathir became Prime Minister after Separation, it would mean that the majority of the population lost their collective senses, because Mahathir would likely pursue unification with Malaysia.

Mahathir is not the nation builder that Lee Kuan Yew was.  A look at his track record does not give us any confidence.  He is either a terrible judge of character, or the people he surrounds himself with reflect who he truly is.  He was the one who elevated Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak, before suddenly gaining a conscience when Najib cancelled projects that benefited his sons and him.  Mahathir knew that Anwar bin Ibrahim was a closet homosexual, and had no problems with it until Anwar decided to challenge him for the leadership of the country.  His current cabinet, in Pakatan Harapan, just like his previous cabinets, is rife with controversy and allegations of unethical behaviour and nepotism.

Mahathir is an extreme nationalist.  He would not open the economy to international trade.  He would impose currency controls.  He would waste our wealth in useless vanity projects such as the tallest building, or a car company that produces cars no one wants to buy in a free market.  Singapore would lose its status as a trade hub, and the economy would fail.  Just as he wanted to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement in Malaysia, he would have cancelled many of our FTAs, and renegotiate them with protectionist measures, which will not work.

Mahathir got where he is because he knows how to play the game of self-promotion, building up a reputation of being a senior statesman by simply being a nonagenarian who refuses to yield power.  His legacy is a failed industrialisation drive to developed status in Malaysia, vanity projects that are white elephants, and nepotism.  He thinks being a developed country is about having shiny skyscrapers and factories churning out junk, not values and education.