The Way Forward: Growth, Prosperity and Multiracial Harmony in Malaysia

The principal architect of Malaysia's transformation is the country's fourth prime minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. In the five essays that comprise The Way Forward, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad reflects on the successes and failures of the New Economic Policy (1971-1990), the central element in governmental policy since the racial troubles of May 1969. The troubles laid bare the economic disparities between the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians, the main ethnic groups in Malaysia. The New Economic Policy, adopting a programme of affirmative action, sought to effect a fundamental redistribution of the nation's wealth by bringing the Malays and other bumiputeras, the indigenous people of the country, into the mainstream of economic life. This was achieved not just by economic means, but also by radically changing the culture and outlook of the bumiputeras, in the process of giving them a new and vibrant self-confidence.