Challenge

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's Prime Minister since 1981, is well known for his original ideas and incisive plain-speaking. Both traits are grippingly evident in this book, where he takes a hard and honest look at certain modes of thinking and living that are vying for supremacy in the modern world, in general, and within the Malay community in Malaysia, in particular. With characteristic aplomb and straightforwardness, Dr Mahathir explodes fallacies and exposes distortions concerning religiosity, education, role models, democracy, communism, freedom, and discipline, and the concerns of this world and the next. Only by striking an equilibrium between an interest in things spiritual and secular, can the Malays hope to face and overcome the conflicting forces and challenges of the modern world. 'The Challenge' is thought-provoking and of special interest today as Dr Mahathir is at the helm of a nation striving for racial balance and religious sanity. He expounds the need for a new system of values, ethics, and attitudes which the Malays must adopt in the country's quest to become a developed nation by the year 2020. By championing his Vision 2020 and the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), Malaysia, under his stewardship, will reach even greater heights.