‘Post-retirement’ Mahathir to ‘tell all’ in book

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has penned another book on his retirement and re-entry into politics to lead the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to victory in the historic 2018 polls.

“Capturing Hope: The Struggle Continues for a New Malaysia” is described by its publisher MPH as “a frank and at times blunt discussion of the difficulties that the PH government faced” ahead of its downfall after 22 months in power.

The book charts out Mahathir’s return to active politics and “the betrayals from within the coalition” that led to PH’s fall from government.

It was originally planned as a sequel to Mahathir’s 2011 memoir, “A Doctor in the House”.

“But because of the change in government and the pandemic in early 2020, the nature of the book had to change as well,” MPH said in a statement ahead of its release on Dec 21.

Promising a book in which Mahathir would “tell all”, it said “Capturing Hope” would see the veteran leader attempting to “set the record straight” regarding the PH government and his second tenure as prime minister.

“Whether one agrees with Mahathir or not, it is impossible to deny the impact he has had – and continues to have – on the Malaysian political landscape.

“This book seeks to discuss those impacts as well as Mahathir’s unfinished struggle to steer Malaysia away from the destructive political dynamics that have fuelled corruption and division in the country for so long,” it said.

Together with Muhyiddin Yassin, Mahathir helped found the Bersatu party in 2016 as a challenge to Umno, led by then prime minister Najib Razak during the peak of the revelations surrounding the 1MDB scandal.

He later teamed up with PH to end six decades of Barisan Nasional rule, becoming the oldest elected head of government in the world at the age of 93.

But following controversies surrounding a promised transition of power that would see his former nemesis Anwar Ibrahim replacing him in the top post, cracks appeared in the PH government, and by early 2020, the coalition fell apart, triggering a split in PKR and Bersatu.

Mahathir resigned in February 2020, and was succeeded by the Perikatan Nasional administration led by Bersatu president Muhyiddin.