Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad
Dr. Mahatar:
I always question conventional ways of doing things. I examine them and certainly in the case of the financial crisis when we were told that we should have a surplus budget and we should have increased interest rates and do all kinds of things every time I examine all the advice I find that they will have negative results. So we questioned convention and decided not to follow. But if we don’t follow what do we do? We could not go on as we were. So we had to think up of something. It took time but over time once we understand what the problem was, what is causing this crisis then we took measures to prevent these factors from effecting our financial situation.
Jacklynn Chao:
So you say that you like to question convention. So give me some examples of when you question convention.
Dr. Mahatar:
Well financial crisis certainly is one example of when I question convention but when we decided to have an automotive industry we were told that no, this is not the thing for a developing country. I asked myself, “Those people who have an automotive industry they must have started with something quite small. Now why can’t we start small the way they did and slowly grow up?” They said, “No. Unless you can have a big volume this is not possible.” But we tried. We cut corners. We reduce costs and we became successful. Besides the government has authority [coughs] to protect the market. So we made use of that capacity and were producing 25,000 cars a year. We now produce almost 200,000 cars. Proton is exporting to Thailand, for example, more than 5,000 cars and that’s a big export for a small company.
Jacklynn Chao:
Have you always questioned convention? Have you always questioned convention since you were a child?
Dr. Mahatar:
Yes. I have always questioned convention and been quite radical in my views about things. I don’t accept what I’m told just like that even if people have been drinking all the time it doesn’t mean that it is correct and that is how to become a leader. If you study history you’ll find that what is good at one time will change because it after some time people find out the defects. The thing to do is, of course, to look for the defects in conventional ways of doing things and to devise new ways.
Jacklynn Chao:
From a business point of view do you think that questioning convention is necessary for every great business leader?
Dr. Mahatar:
Yes. It’s questioning convention is necessary all the time. Whatever you are doing today may not be the right thing to do in the future. So you must think and see the defects in the systems that you are using.