page_title: Mahathir Mohamad
section_title: Foreign relations
hierarchical_section_title: Mahathir Mohamad / First term as prime minister / Foreign relations
caption_attribution_description: English: PUTRAJAYA. President Putin with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad during the signing of Russian-Malaysian documents.
context_page_description: Mahathir bin Mohamad is a Malaysian statesman and author who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia from July 1981 to October 2003 and from May 2018 to March 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament for Langkawi since May 2018. Mahathir's political career has spanned more than 70 years starting with his participation in protests against non-Malays gaining Malaysian citizenship during the Malayan Union through to forming his own political parties, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party in September 2016 and the Party of Homeland's Fighters in August 2020.
  Born and raised in Alor Setar, Kedah, Mahathir excelled at school and became a physician. He became active in the United Malays National Organisation before entering parliament in 1964. He served one term before losing his seat, subsequently falling out with Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and being expelled from UMNO. When Abdul Rahman resigned, Mahathir re-entered UMNO and parliament, and was promoted to the Cabinet, where he served as Minister of Education from 1974 to 1978 and Minister of Trade and Industry from 1978 to 1981. He became Deputy Prime Minister in 1976.
context_section_description: During Mahathir's term, Malaysia's relationship with the West was generally fine despite his being known as an outspoken critic towards it. Early during his tenure, a small disagreement with the United Kingdom over university tuition fees sparked a boycott of all British goods led by Mahathir, in what became known as the "Buy British Last" campaign. It also led to a search for development models in Asia, most notably Japan. This was the beginning of his famous "Look East Policy". Although the dispute was later resolved by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mahathir continued to emphasise Asian development models over contemporary Western ones. He particularly criticised the double standards of Western nations.
caption: Mahathir with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2003
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