Abdul Razak Hussein
Unlike his predecessors in Malaysia's highest office, Mahathir was born into a lower middle-class Malay family and did not belong to any of Malaysia's royal families. In contrast, the country's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, was a prince as the son of the Sultan of Kedah while the second and third prime ministers, Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn, were of royal lineage. Mahathir was the youngest of nine children, born on July 10, 1925, in Seberang Perak, considered a semi-rural slum in Alor Star, Kedah, which were also home to new arrivals, such as Javanese and Sumatrans from Indonesia, Indian Muslims and poorer Chinese. Mahathir came from a mixed ethnic background by having a grandfather who was reputed to have emigrated from Southern India. In this sense, he continued the tradition of mixed parentage of Malaysia's national leaders, as Tunku Abdul Rahman's mother was Thai, Abdul Razak Hussein traced his ancestors to the Bugis clan in Indonesia, and Hussein Onn had Turkish blood.